


Written in Blood

by Lupuswolf00



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Injury, Drama, F/F, Violence, crossover fic, don't trust the relationship tags hehe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 51,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27628694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lupuswolf00/pseuds/Lupuswolf00
Summary: Sua was just an ordinary human living her life in Seoul. However, everything changed when she's suddenly forced into the dark, twisted world of vampires.From catching a deadly killer, to helping to fix a long broken relationship and escaping vampire hunters, Sua must learn to work together with her cold-hearted mentor, Siyeon, to survive the treacherous nights.
Relationships: Han Dong | Handong/Kim Bora | SuA, Kim Bora | SuA/Lee Siyeon, Kim Minji | JiU/Kim Yoohyeon, Lee Gahyeon/Lee Yubin | Dami
Comments: 30
Kudos: 53





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is based in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. The story is not meant to be lore friendly so don’t nitpick any minor discrepancies.
> 
> This is a mystery and suspense oriented story that focuses on details. I've included many, many hints and recaps for easier deciphering, but if being spoon-fed every single detail of a story is your kind of thing, you aren't going to enjoy this fic.
> 
> People not familiar with VtM, I have included explanations where needed.  
> Recaps will be at the end of the chapter.  
> If you want more difficulty solving the mystery, then skip the recaps. :)
> 
> -You don't need to know VtM to understand this story  
> -This is my first multi-part fanfiction  
> -English is not my first language

* * *

_Let me go, you psychotic bitch!” The man in front of you shouts his lungs out, struggling to free himself._

_Layers of burlap rope are coiled tightly around his wrist and the arms of the chair, restraining him, the rough material biting mercilessly into his pasty skin._

_Fresh blood seeps through the ropes from his wounds and drips to the floor, forming a pool of blood looking as if somebody spilled red paint._

_You let out a small giggle. You strut towards him nonchalantly, toying with your long, silver hair._

_“What’s wrong, old man? We both know any amateur vampire can break through something as simple as those ropes around your wrists, hm? Finally getting a taste of what it’s like to be a **Thin-Blood**?” _

_“Bitch! You did something to these ropes, I’m sure of it! Tell me, woman, why did you bring me here, and what do you want from me?!” he yells at the young woman standing in front of him, like prey caught in a hunter’s trap. “Money, power, people - just name it, and it is yours! If you kill me, you’ll get nothing, NOTHING!”_

_The shakiness of his voice made his words sound more like a plea than a threat._

_A lopsided grin tugs at the corner of your blood-stained, rosy lips. You put your hands on each side of the man’s trembling shoulders, your grip so strong that your fingernails start to claw their way into his flesh, making him cry out in pain._

_“Oh, when will you old geezers learn,” you snarl, baring your knife-edged canines, as blood red mist starts emanating from your body, filling the dark, stuffy room. “What I want is revenge - which can only be achieved with your death.”_

* * *

It’s been a long day of work. Sua says goodbye to her fellow coworkers, packs up her bags and heads out the company door.

Working as a professional dancer and choreographer is tiring but rewarding work. On one hand, she gets to work on what she’s passionate about - dance, but on the other, the working hours and days were terribly long and tiring. But it was worth it.

Her phone vibrates in her pocket. She pulls it out and checks her new messages.

**Mom**

**[Are you home yet?] (9.57p.m)**

**(9.57p.m) [Not yet, just got off work]**

**[Okay, tell me when you do] (9.57p.m)**

**[It's dangerous out at night] (9.57p.m)**

**(9.57p.m) [Alright]**

Even though she’s been in Seoul for over a year now, her parents still worry about her as if she were still a child. Her parents can be overprotective like that sometimes, and given how large and diverse Seoul is compared to her hometown, she doesn’t blame them for acting the way they do.

It’s about 10 o’clock at night right now. She takes a turn around the block, on the usual route she takes to get to the subway station where she can catch a train ride home. 

Apart from convenience stores and a few small eateries that are still open, there isn't much light on the dim street. She picks up the pace and tries to minimise her time spent here in fear of her safety.

Sua sees a dark alleyway. Alleyways at night are always the perfect spot for crime - a small, dark space hidden from the prying eyes and ears of otherwise alert passerbys. No one can see what goes down there except for the perpetrator. Because of this, anyone in their right mind would avoid them at all costs.

But something in this particular alley seems strange. A pair of eyes glows in the dark, its piercing gaze staring straight into Sua’s dark brown eyes. Sua stops walking.

 _What in the world is that?_ Sua peers into the space curiously. 

All of a sudden, she realised she couldn’t move her legs, despite her brain and rationality endlessly begging them to. An eerie, feminine voice calls out to her.

 _“You… Yes you… Come here,”_ it purrs. The voice is enrapturing, seductive, but at the same, it sends chills down Sua’s spine and gives her an unpleasant feeling in her gut. 

Sua wants to ignore the voice, but she can’t. Her body does not want to respond to her commands. Unwillingly, she delves deeper and deeper into the murky shadows, her legs carrying her.

A lone woman stands in the end of the alley, arms folded and a cigarette in her mouth. Her hair is black as night; her skin pale as the ivory crescent moon above them. She is wearing a designer brand fur coat. 

In particular, her eyes, now up close, shined like a pair of glamorous rubies.

Upon noticing Sua, the woman tosses her cigarette away into a dumpster and faces her.

“Good. You’re here. Now listen well, mortal,” she announces with a powerful sense of authority, “I’ve been eyeing you for quite some time now. My time left is short, for I am being hunted. I have decided that you shall be my childe, although I do express regret that I will not be with you as your sire.”

Sua stares at the woman blankly throughout what was, frankly, a load of edgy, horror movie bullshit. 

The woman seemed unbothered, though, as she merely blinks and waits for Sua to respond.

“What? Hold up. I’m afraid I did not understand _anything_ you just said. Is this some sort of prank?” says Sua, looking around.

The woman crinkles her nose in visible confusion. “Ah… No. This isn’t one of those… _humiliation tactics_ you humans love playing on others. I am actually being completely serious. You see, mortal, I am a _Kindred_ , or rather, a vampire, as you humans call us.

She approaches Sua. A set of two small, razor sharp fangs are revealed behind her wine red lips. Sua takes a few steps backwards.

“What. No way. You’re shitting me.” Sua’s eyes darted around in search of an escape route. _I’ve got to get out of here. This must be some sick joke_ , she thinks. _I wonder where the video cameras are._

Sua tries to run, but she can't. Her legs simply refuse to move. _Something_ is causing her to feel like it's okay to stay here. Something… supernatural. Maybe this isn’t a prank after all.

“Oh, no, now,” the woman notices Sua begin to panic, hissing like a python. “You are not escaping from _me_.”

“Fuck no! Get away from me, you freak-”

Before Sua can react, the shadows of the alley distort, extending like tendrils. They surround and constrict Sua, their grip cold and unforgiving.

The woman, whose eyes now total shade of black, lunges herself towards Sua, grappling her small body in her powerful grip, her sharp, pointed fingernails anchoring painfully onto her.

Sua tries to scream, but nothing comes out of her throat. The vampire latches her mouth onto Sua’s neck, fangs piercing skin.

Contrary to Sua’s expectations, the bite isn’t painful, in fact, it was actually quite the opposite. It felt like a caress; no, a kiss; a wonderful feeling she is unable to put into words. She found herself paralyzed from the sheer pleasure short circuiting her nervous system.

However, the high doesn't last long as a few dozen seconds later, she starts feeling light-headed; the edges of her vision slowly blackening; the ringing sound in her ears gradually increasing in pitch and volume.

“I’ve bestowed a great gift upon you, Kim Sua.” She can faintly hear the voice of the black haired woman before she passes out. “...Try not to waste it.”

* * *

  
  


“You brought her to the airport earlier? So she really left?” Siyeon asks as she squints at the night sky, trying to spot an airplane.

“For her safety, she did, but don’t tell anyone else about this, especially the girl.” the man steering the car next to her says. “If anyone asks, she’s dead.” 

“...Speaking of the girl, why the fuss over her?” Siyeon glances towards the backseats of the car. An unconscious girl lies motionless on the black leather seat, her hair disheveled and clothes dirty with dust.

“Honestly, I’m just as clueless as you are. Boss says she’s dangerous, like ‘a really angry **Brujah** ’ levels of dangerous - but I gotta admit, she really doesn’t look the part,” the driver responds, his attention focused on the road. “Looks like an innocent girl to me. Too pretty to hurt anyone.”

_( **Brujah** : a vampire clan. Context - members of clan Brujah are usually quick to anger and very passionate.)_

_(Each vampire belongs to a certain clan. Each clan has a set of three Disciplines [more on Disciplines later], a clan weakness largely unique to its members, and various stereotypes attributed to them.)_

“Well, you can’t expect a **Lasombra** like her to pick someone lesser of her calibre, right? Besides, you know how they are. They’re all wolves in sheep’s clothing.” she says indifferently, fixing her hair with the mirror on the sun visor. 

_( **Lasombra** : a vampire clan.)_

The car parks on the roadside.

“Yeah, I know. Never judge a book and all that.” the man next to her turns off the car engine. “Anyways, we’re here. Grab the girl and let’s go.”

* * *

Sua feels her consciousness drift in and out. She’s lying down on some sort of bed or couch. Faintly, she can hear two voices talking some distance away from her.

“To hell with them. This is the work of _The Diablerist_ and the **Camarilla** know damn well none of us can do anything about it,” the first voice says angrily. “They’re just going to blame it on us again.”

_(The **Camarilla** : the largest of the three vampiric sects, it is an international organization which aims to protect all vampires by enforcing and promulgating the **Masquerade** , so that vampires can co-exist peacefully with humans.)_

_(The **Masquerade** : an organized campaign enforced by the Camarilla to convince humans that vampires do not exist. __Generally, a breach consists of any evidence of vampiric powers: feeding on blood, obvious use of Disciplines, regeneration in plain sight and the like. Perpetrators are often given extremely harsh punishment._ _)_

“Whatever it is, it’s irrelevant with the task I assigned to you.” the second voice says calmly. “Keep a close watch on her. We can‘t afford yet another problem on our hands. We're stretched thin as it is.” 

“But I’m the best fighter you’ve got! If someone’s putting that rabid **Sabbat** dog down, it’s me. I can’t just sit here and play babysitter while they go around killing others left and right!”

_(The **Sabbat** : one of the three main vampiric sects. A loose organization of vampires who reject the Masquerade. They believe vampires to be the superior race over humans, and constantly commit vile and inhumane acts.)_

“Siyeon, please, just listen to me-” the voice pauses. “Wait. I think the girl’s awake.”

With great effort, Sua manages to open her eyes. She still feels dizzy and her entire body feels extremely sore, like she danced for 3 days straight without rest. 

She finds herself in a brightly lit office room. The walls are painted a pristine white, and she is surrounded by metal bookshelves and drawers that are arranged in an organised fashion.

A lady is seen behind a mahogany desk. She is wearing a plain white collared shirt buttoned all the way to the top, paired with uniform gray slacks. Her wavy black hair frames her soft, small face and delicate features nicely. 

There isn’t much on the desk - a few odd stacks of paper, a single laptop, and a lone amber yellow rose sitting in an intricate porcelain vase.

The other young woman standing in front of the desk turns around. Contrary to the lady next to her, she is dressed rather casually, wearing a black hoodie, dark blue ripped jeans and white sneakers. Bleached, blonde hair extends from her scalp to her shoulders. She’s rather tall, and compared to the other lady, her facial features are fierce, but equally as attractive.

“Where am I? What’s happening?” questions Sua weakly. She attempts to stand up, but collapses back in her chair when she realises she’s too lightheaded to do so.

“You go deal with her. I’ll go get the guy.” The lady at the desk stands up, and heads out the door.

The handsome blonde haired lady walks up to Sua and lowers herself to talk face to face with her. Sua can’t help but feel a little nervous.

“It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that you’re safe now. My name is Siyeon, the other lady that you saw earlier is Jiu.” she says. “Please try to remain calm and don’t move around too much. You’re still experiencing the after effects of the Embrace.”

“The… what now?” 

“The Embrace. It is the act of transforming a human into a **Kindred** , or a vampire.” Siyeon says. Sua can see the telltale pair of fangs behind her rose red lips.

_( **Kindred** : In a nutshell, vampire and Kindred mean the same thing - the word 'Kindred' can be used in place of the word 'vampire', and vice versa. The term ' **Kindred** ' is most commonly used by vampires who strive to maintain high Humanity.) _

_( **Humanity** is the measure of how closely a vampire clings to the morality and values of their life as a mortal human being. While a vampire with high Humanity can be mostly neutral, or even kind and good-hearted, just like humans; a vampire with low Humanity is like an animal - self-serving, ruthless, cruel, and has no morals whatsoever.)_

Sua blinks at her, baffled, not understanding a single word she said. 

“...In other words, you died, and now, you are ‘reborn’ as a vampire.” Siyeon explains again, impatiently. “ _You are now a vampire_. Do you understand?” 

Siyeon's words finally start to sink into Sua's mind.

“...Vampire?!!!!” 

If she were in a cartoon the camera would pan out of the building and a few birds would start flying away.

Siyeon flinches at the loudness of Sua's voice.

“...Yup.” Siyeon says, covering one ear.

“So you’re telling me, that woman in the alley…?! It wasn’t a prank?!” Sua says, the volume of her voice not lowered one bit. 

“Well, it‘s quite simple - are you breathing now?” 

“I…” Sua stops talking and places her finger slightly under her nose. The air is dead still.

Siyeon is right. She wasn’t breathing at all. Yet, she felt completely fine. Because her body no longer needed to.

Sua quickly descends into a state of panic. 

“Then how did I end up here?” she attempts to get up from her seat once again, but Siyeon stops her. “Where am I?”

“Hey, relax! I just told you, stop moving around and rest,” she says, hands on Sua’s shoulders, restraining her. “Your sire, aka, the person that gave you the Embrace, asked us to take care of you, so we rescued you and let you rest here, in our headquarters.” 

“Where is she now?”

“She... is dead.” 

“Dead...?” 

“Look, I know you probably have a million different questions now, I’ll explain later-” Siyeon is interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

The black haired woman that exited the room earlier walks in, with her, a disheveled, tired looking man. She lets go of the man’s shirt collar, flinging him in Sua's direction. He collapses on his knees, next to the couch. 

“What the hell-?!” Sua almost jumps as the man’s bloodshot eyes meet hers. His black hair is matted, messy. The white shirt is so dirty and stained, it is more of a piss yellow than its original colour.

Siyeon scowls and kicks the man in the stomach, leaving him whimpering on the ground, arms holding his abdomen in pain.

“Behave, mortal. What did I say about staring?” she barks.

“There. Teach her.” Jiu tells Siyeon, heading for the door once again. “Try not to cause a mess. I'll be back in 5.”

Once Jiu leaves the room yet again, Siyeon turns her attention to the man, then to Sua. 

“I can’t believe my job is teaching rookies like you now.” grumbles Siyeon, crossing her arms. “Anyways, what I’m about to teach you is simple enough. Tell me, what do you think it is?”

Sua, who is beyond shaken, has somewhat of an idea - whatever it was, it’s probably not good. 

“I don’t know.” she dare not guess.

“I am going to teach you the very first thing every Kindred needs to learn.” Siyeon says, a harsh coldness in her voice. “How to _feed_.”

The man trembles on the floor, groveling in fear.

“...Feed?” asks Sua, puzzled.

“In simpler terms, drinking blood.” says Siyeon. 

Sua’s stomach sinks as realisation dawned upon her. 

“I… don’t know if I can do that.” admits Sua, observing the poor man on the floor.

“You have no choice. If you don’t want to, you are going to starve.” says Siyeon plainly. “Don’t waste my time. I know you can smell him. You’ve just been Embraced. You are hungry.”

Siyeon isn’t wrong. Sua’s senses are more hyper-aware than before. 

She can hear his beating heart thump in his chest, his vocal cords vibrating in his throat, his muscle fibers straining under his skin...

Blood running in his veins.

“No, I’m not hurting an innocent man.” resists Sua, defiantly, collecting her fingers in a tight fist. 

Siyeon furrows her brows, looking slightly miffed. “ I’m not going to ask you twice. If you feel sorry for this bastard, don’t. Man’s as useless as trash in a dumpster. Our blood dolls are all prisoners from death row. Now _get to it_ before I get angry.”

Sua bites her lip, conflicted. Upon doing so, she accidentally draws blood from her own lips. Her canine teeth are now a pair of sharp fangs. 

“...I don’t have all night.” Siyeon warns a second time.

Sua can feel hunger stir within her, like a hot stream of molten lava; like a swirling vortex of desire. She unconsciously licks her own lips...

Out of nowhere, Siyeon suddenly kicks Sua on the back harshly, and Sua falls to the floor, next to the human. The ravishing smell of his blood overwhelms her senses, enticing her, taunting her; the itch at the back of the throat becoming absolutely unbearable.

“No, please, no...... No more……” he begs timidly.

But Sua is deaf. She’s blind, inert, unresponsive to everything except for the crimson liquid flowing within the human.

“I’m... _Sorry_.” Sua manages to force two disconnected words of an apology before she is not longer able to resist the temptation in front of her. She pounces onto him, her fangs piercing straight into his neck, carving two deep holes in the flesh.

As the warm blood rushes into Sua’s mouth, _god..._ the feeling is so good, it’s greater than any sort of pleasure Sua has ever experienced. Her veins are singing, pulsating, live blood filling her dead body, sending off each and every nerve in her system. It felt like absolute bliss, and Sua can't get enough of it.

A foreign, aggressive voice starts echoing inside her head... 

_Yes, worm. Suck him dry. He is now yours,_ the thing inside Sua’s mind whispers.

The flow of blood gushing into Sua's mouth starts to diminish, little by little.

“Hey... Sua?”

 _Blood in his arms, blood in his legs, blood in his eyeballs, blood in his ears, blood in his neck, it's all yours. Claim it._ Its gnarly voice resonate in her ears. 

“Sua! Seriously! Stop it! You’re killing him!”

 _That’s right. Tear open his veins, drain him dry like a box of juice, gut him like a fish, split his joints open like a fruit_...

“Argh! Let go of him! Sua!”

The sound of Siyeon’s voice snaps Sua free of her trance. She blinks, and sees the bloody scene in front of her. 

A dried up, disembodied corpse lays dead on the ground, gruesome and absolutely unrecognisable. Blood dyes the grey carpet a deep red.

“Wha-what happened?!” Sua gasps, her hands over her mouth, appalled. She looks at her hands. They are splattered with blood.

Siyeon lets go of Sua’s shoulders. She gives herself a smack on the forehead. 

“Fuck.” she utters.

So far, the Kindred Siyeon has trained before were Thin-Blood rookies, the weakest whelps among the whelps who were abandoned by their sires for their incompetence or out of shame. But this Sua… she’s different. Whatever she is, she’s no Thin-Blood, or whelp.

Siyeon would be lying if a rookie vampire killing a man like that did not scare her, however. She proceeds by converting that fear into anger, just like how she always does. Rage has always served as an excellent mask for susceptibility for her.

“What’s gotten into you?!” Siyeon scolds Sua. “You wouldn’t snap out of it until you drained this guy drier than the Sahara.” 

“I don’t know!” Sua almost screams, but Siyeon hushes her by putting a finger to her mouth. “...Did I kill him?”

“No shit!” says Siyeon, angered.

“So you didn't want me to kill him?” 

Siyeon scoffs. “Of course not! I thought you’d know when to stop, even if you couldn’t, my original intention was to stop you before you could drain him dry, but you ripped into him so fast, I barely had the chance to.”

“O-oh...” a bloody tear drips down Sua’s cheeks and it makes Siyeon feel the worst. 

_Oh god. She’s crying._ Siyeon doesn’t have time for this _crybaby._

Unwillingly, Siyeon puts a hand on Sua’s shoulder awkwardly in an attempt to console the crying girl. Unexpectedly however, Siyeon realises she bit more than she can chew when the brown haired girl pulls her into a full on hug.

Not knowing how to react, Siyeon hovers her arms over the other girl’s back, a helpless look on her face. 

“Hey, uh, look, rookie. You'll get used to it. Death's sorta... common. Around here,” stammers Siyeon, eyes darting at Sua, then at the dead body on the ground. “It's a dog eat dog world, I guess.” 

Siyeon has never been an expert at comforting words, or quite frankly, words in general.

Suddenly, the door swings open. Jiu walks in, but stops at the doorway, hands on her hips as she takes in the bizarre scene in front of her.

“...Am I interrupting something?” Jiu tilts her head to the side. She notices the bloody mess on the floor. “Oh.”

“Uh. Sorry about your carpet.” says Siyeon, a hand behind her head. 

Sua lets go of Siyeon, sniffling. Streaks of blood are present where she cried. It is only now she notices that even her tears have blood in them. She truly is no longer human.

“I assume things did not go well.” says Jiu.

“That- would be a big understatement.” Siyeon pinches her nose bridge embarrassedly. 

Jiu looks at Sua. “You did this? Interesting…” 

“...What?” Sua was not in the mood. 

“It's nothing.” Jiu then turns to face Siyeon. “Anyways, it’s getting late. You two should go. I have a new job for you tonight, Siyeon, one you might like.” 

“What would that be?” 

“I have information on where _The Diablerist_ may be headed next.” informs Jiu.

Siyeon raises her brows. “No kidding? So you’re sending me on that mission, after all?”

“I want them _alive_ , Siyeon. Not dead.” says Jiu, her left hand on her hip. “I need you to promise me.” 

“I’ll promise you when you tell me why you want some feral, man-eating _Sabbat_ vampire alive.” 

“I'm being serious, Siyeon.”

“So am I!”

Jiu lets out a loud sigh. “Siyeon, this is not a game. I can’t _jeopardise_ everything just because you like fighti-”

Sua clears her throat. 

“Uh, sorry, rookie kind of lost here.” Sua raises her hand, and the two senior vampires turn to face her.

“...We will discuss this tomorrow.” Jiu tells Siyeon, waving a hand. “As I said, it’s getting late. You two should go rest up. Oh, and… get someone to clean up this… _mess._ ”

Siyeon gives a vexed grunt and motions for Sua to follow her. “C’mon. We’re heading back.”

“Back where?” questions Sua.

“My place, duh. It’s not like you have anywhere else to sleep during the day.” 

“I have my apartment!” 

Siyeon snorts. 

“What's so funny?”

“...I’m sorry, but your apartment is probably _crawling_ with cops right now.” Siyeon says, her icy expression creeping back onto her face. “News out there is that you died from a car accident. Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“ _What_?! But clearly I’m still here, right?” Sua demands.

“You are here, but the human version of you is dead. Sua, you have to let go of everything you had as a human - the people you knew, the things you had, the person you were.” states Jiu, who approaches Sua, and places a finger under her chin, her long, red nails scraping against Sua's skin. “We must keep our existence a secret to humans. If humans were to know of us Kindred, they would revolt, and we can easily be overwhelmed and eradicated.” 

Sua recoils and removes her skin from the vampire's touch, but Jiu merely chuckles in amusement. 

“But what if I don’t want to be a Kindred?” says Sua, wiping her chin with her finger defiantly.

“The Embrace is a one way street. Only way out is death. If you choose to disobey the rules, every Kindred is obligated to kill you, for our own survival. So consider carefully.” Siyeon’s words are as sharp and cold as steel.

“ _Siyeon_. You could have phrased that better.” Jiu glares at Siyeon.

“It's the truth.” Siyeon shrugs.

Sua finds herself at a loss for words. What about her job? She was having such great success at her career, choreographing for famous groups even at a young age… And her family, she never even got a chance to say goodbye to them. 

Siyeon remembers the time when she herself was told that she would never live her life the way she did ever again. She feels sort of bad for Sua, but they need to move on. The sooner, the better.

The more you pick at a scab, the longer it takes to heal and the more likely it will leave a nasty scar. 

“I’m sorry, but most of us did not choose this life either. You’ll come to terms with it eventually. But for now, we _really_ have to head back before the sun rises, else we’ll die, and I mean for real this time.” Siyeon urges hurriedly. 

“...Fine.” Sua gives in. She’s way too exhausted to argue.

Sua walks out of the room, with Siyeon behind her. Before Siyeon leaves, Jiu leaves her with one reminder.

“Remember, keep an eye on her,” she says, her words oddly cautious. “...We've never had a _Lasombra_ on our side before.”

The blonde haired girl lets out a heavy, exasperated sigh. “Yes, ma'am. As long as I get to fight _The Diablerist_ tomorrow.”

“You will, as long as you follow my orders.” Jiu says calmly, without looking up from her laptop.

Siyeon shows Jiu the white of her eyes, and closes the wooden door with a _thud_.

* * *

Handong touches up her make up in the mirror. Suddenly, she hears a knocking sound on her door.

“Come in.” 

Her servant walks into her bedroom timidly, and passes her a fancy envelope with a wax seal on a silver platter.

“Mistress, the Prince has new orders for you.” she says to her in Mandarin. 

Handong closes the lipstick and turns to the servant, her gaze cold as ice.

“Can’t you see I’m busy?” she says annoyedly in Korean. _“_ 把它放在桌上。 我待会儿再读 _。_ ( _Put it on the table. I'll read it later.)”_

The girl bows apologetically and quickly follows Handong’s orders, before leaving the room.

The blonde haired woman puts away her lipstick in a pouch. She sighs and walks over to the letter.

Rarely does a Kindred directly receive orders from the **Prince** himself. In the Camarilla, tradition is held in the highest regard.

( **Prince** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.)

The elders make the big decisions, and the work that needs to be done to facilitate those decision trickles down to every Kindred, oldest to the very youngest. Just like the Masquerade, these unchanging traditions have kept Kindred alive for centuries, and it will continue to do so. 

To carry out a task for the figure at the very top of the power chain is not only a great honor, but also a very important task. 

Using her letter-opener, she opens the envelope carefully and reads the delicate piece of paper inside.

“This ought to be interesting.” Handong lets out a mysterious smile, revealing a pair of pearl white canines.

She puts on her coat, grabs her Desert Eagle handgun, and heads out the door.

* * *

Hopefully the explanations aren't confusing! There will be recaps at the end of each chapter to help readers understand. More will be explained in future chapters, so don't worry if you feel a little lost now. Chapter 2 will clear many things up.

  
**Terms:**  
-The Camarilla: Biggest of the three vampiric sects. Very traditional, operated by the eldest vampires in society, wants vampires to live in secrecy. Enforces the Masquerade.

  
-Prince: Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.

  
-The Sabbat: The most chaotic evil of the three vampiric sects. Violent vampire supremacists. Hates the Masquerade.  
  
-The Masquerade: A system enforced to ensure no vampire reveals themselves to humans so humans remain ignorant to the existence of vampires.

  
========================================================

-Kindred: Basically just another word for 'vampire'. Used by more humane vampires.

  
-The Embrace: The act of turning a human to a vampire.

  
-Sire: The vampire that gave you the Embrace. (e.g. Jiu turned me into a vampire. So, she is my sire.)

=======================================================

 **Characters:**  
- **Jiu** : ???, ???   
[Leader of some sort of organisation.]

- **Sua** : ???, clan Lasombra   
[Newly turned vampire. Currently under the strict supervision of Siyeon for unknown reasons.]

- **Siyeon** : ???, ???  
[Jiu's right hand woman. Extremely loyal to Jiu. Loves to fight.]

- **Handong** : Camarilla, ???  
[Works for the Camarilla. Received orders from directly from the Prince.]

-???: ???, ???  
[???]

-???: ???, ???  
[???]

-???: ???, ???  
[???]

- **The Diablerist** : Sabbat, ???  
[A mysterious killer from the Sabbat.]

-Sua's unnamed sire: ???, clan Lasombra  
[???]  


Twitter: @dcwolfieawoooo  
Feedback: https://curiouscat.me/ZWolf_

  
  
VtMB wiki:  
https://vtmb.fandom.com/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_%E2%80%93_Bloodlines_Wiki


	2. Thin Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is she a rose, or a thorn...?  
> Trust is fragile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've added many hints and recaps throughout the story so it is much, much easier to follow for those unfamiliar with the franchise.  
> Future chapters will be much less confusing after understanding the basics, which are explained in chapter 1 and 2.  
> 

* * *

_A video camera is set at the end of the long dining table._

_You rise from your seat, like a princess rising from her throne, pacing around the room with a steady rhythm._

_There are countless toy animals, each seated on their own dining chair. A man is seated at the very opposite end of the dining table, alone, directly opposite your seat._

_“Big brother, can we play tea party again today? ”_

_You skip over to a toy animal. It is a teddy bear, made of… some sort of leather._

_“I want to be Mr. Teddy today. How about you?”_

_He remains silent._

_“Mr. Teddy, big brother is no fun. He called me his precious, his pretty princess, the girl of his dreams! But now he’s ignoring me.” you whine._

_You pick the bear up and wave its paw at the man. The man averts his gaze. I_ _t’s almost as if he wants to scream, but he can’t…_

_His reaction did not meet your expectations. You trash the bear on the ground in a fit of anger._

_“Hey, asshole, can you hear me?!”_

_No response._

_You slam the wooden table angrily with your bare fist, smashing a clean hole in it easily, the wood splitting apart with a loud crunch, splinters flying everywhere._

_His face is unchanged. Not a silver of emotion._

_“Why won’t you answer me… You promised me that you would play with me… Do you not love me anymore, big brother?!”_

_“Let...me…go...” the man mutters very softly, his lips vibrating slightly._

_The ends of your lips perk up._

_“What is that? You said to make up for it, you’d let me drink your blood?” you give a delighted smile._

_The man's eyes widen in horror. He shakes his head and violently flails in his seat, but doesn't - or rather, is unable to - run._

_“How kind of you, big brother!”_

_You run your fingers along the side of his neck, feeling his escalated heartbeat, the warm skin forming a stark contrast with your icy fingertips. It excites you, the warm feeling of live blood burning against your dead cold flesh._

_Swiftly and suddenly, you devour your prey with deadly accuracy. The hall is filled with excruciating cries of pain, agony, misery, until they eventually become softer, and softer, until total silence is achieved once again._

_You lick your soft, pink lips, satisfied with your meal. You stare down at the poor man's remains, bloody and unrecognisable from the handsome young lad he once was._

_“Tee hee… Now tell me, what animal would you like to be now, big brother?”_

* * *

“Ma’am, we prepared the antidote as you ordered.” 

Jiu turns around and faces the Kindred in front of her desk.

“Good. Make sure it is safely secured. We must not let the Camarilla know of this.” Jiu gives a pleased nod, examining the glass vial filled with amber liquid. It glows slightly on her touch. “If they do, it's only time before they declare a Blood Hunt on her, or even, an all out war with us.” 

“Of course.” the scientist bows. “But, before that, may I have a question?”

“What is it?” Jiu says.

“How are you going to administer it _to her_ in the first place?” the scientist asks. “Reports indicate she is probably mentally unstable. She attacks without warning, and refuses to listen to any reason.” 

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Jiu puts the vial back into its velvet casing, closing it with a click. “But I’ll find a way. I invested everything into this; _invested everything into her_. I cannot afford to fail.”

* * *

Siyeon’s apartment is not big, but not too cramped either. There is only a single sofa, a basic television set, and a small coffee table in the living room. The kitchen, although well-equipped, looks like it hasn’t been touched at all.

Sua wants to sit down on the couch, but realises it’s not the best idea, since she has not changed her clothes since the time she was ‘killed’.

“Your clothes are dirty. Wait here.” observes Siyeon, before disappearing into the bedroom.

Sua takes the chance to look around. 

On a table, she spots a small photo of Siyeon and Jiu in a cute wooden frame. A doodle of rabbit and a wolf can be seen on the sides of the frame. The photo looks like it was taken a long time ago, judging by their clothes and hairstyles. Despite that, both of their faces look exactly the same they do now, like they did not age at all.

There are also photos of her and various other people she doesn’t recognise. One of them is a photo of a younger Siyeon and a group of people who seem to be her family, taken presumably before she was embraced.

A wide grin is on her youthful, cute face. She seems much happier then. Perhaps Kindred life can change a person, greatly.

After a rather long time, enough for Sua to start feeling bored, Siyeon emerges from the bedroom with a stack of clothes, tall enough to obscure her beautiful face.

“I can’t wear so many clothes at once, you know that right?” Sua can’t help but burst out laughing at the scene in front of her.

Siyeon places them down on the sofa, and scratches the back of her head.

“I couldn’t tell which of these you would like, or which would suit you.. So…” she avoids Sua’s eyes. “I thought I’d just let you choose on your own?”

“Aw, you’re cute.” Sua giggles while she goes through the pile of oversized tie dye T-shirts, long pants, and equally as oversized hoodies. 

“I’m not cute.” Siyeon glares, which only made Sua laugh even harder. She exhales audibly.

Sua picks a simple t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts before returning the pile of clothes to its owner. 

At this moment, Siyeon also passes Sua a bunch of crumpled up fabric, looking slightly flustered. Sua takes it, unfolds it, and discovers what they are. 

“Oh, right.” Sua swears that she felt her dead body heat up in embarrassment. She quickly shoves it in between the clothes in her arms, pretending as if nothing happened and escaping to the guest bathroom.

Siyeon shuffles her feet self-consciously.

 _I made it awkward, didn’t I?_ She thought to herself, mentally smacking herself in the face as she chucks her clothes back into her closet. Why is she even embarrassed? It's not the first time she's had to lend her clothes to someone. Something must be over her. Must be the fatigue. 

Suddenly, Siyeon hears a ear-piercing scream coming from her bathroom. Alarmed, she rushes over to see what happened. She opens the bathroom door with a huge _slam_.

Sua is standing in front of the mirror, horrified at her own reflection.

Except that she has no reflection.

“Siyeon, do you see what I’m seeing now?!” exclaims Sua, gawking at the mirror. 

Siyeon stands next to Sua. Her reflection shows up just fine.

“Why do you have a reflection but not me?” Sua asks in a state of panic.

“It’s because you’re a Kindred of the **Lasombra** clan.” explains Siyeon.

“ _Clan_? You mean not all Kindred are the same?” 

Siyeon shakes her head and yawns, totally worn out. “No. I will explain more later. It’s already 6a.m, the sun's rising soon, so hurry it up, unless you want to be baked alive.” 

Sua is reluctant, but is left with little choice when Siyeon just shuts the door on her without another word. 

By the time she’s done showering, Siyeon is on the couch staring out of the window, deep in thought. Her features look more gorgeous as ever as the soft moonlight shines on her pale, snowy skin. It's certainly a sight for sore eyes, except that she's Kindred. She's a monster, just like Sua.

Siyeon notices Sua stepping out of the bathroom. She gets up. The clothes Sua’s wearing are expectedly too large for her, but Siyeon has to admit she looks kind of cute, like a child wearing their mother’s clothing.

“What's wrong? Do I look weird?” asks Sua, who notices Siyeon staring.

“Oh, no, nothing.” Siyeon blurts. She motions for Sua to follow her into her bedroom. “C'mon. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping.”

Siyeon’s bedroom looks even more minimalistic than her living room. There is a simple metal framed bed, blanket not folded and sprawled across the mattress carelessly; a desk and a chair that look completely new; and two wall closets, one of which is left open, revealing a total mess of clothes and clutter inside. 

“Don’t mind the mess.” says Siyeon as she drags a mattress from the side of the room and plops it on the floor. She flops onto the mattress lazily, and points Sua to the bed. Sua gives Siyeon a confused look. 

“You're not going to sleep on your own bed?” questions Sua.

“Nah, you need it more than I do right now. Can't have you all feeling like crap and sleeping like crap as well.” Siyeon says as she taps on her phone to turn off the lights. 

“...You're nice, you know that right? Even though you try to act mean.” says Sua, flopping onto Siyeon's bed. It's hard, like stone. The springs are worn out and the bed creaks with age as Sua's weight is falls on it.

“Mmhm, compliment me all you like, but you still owe me for costing me that Blood Doll's life.” states Siyeon, who rolls to the other side of the mattress, facing away from Sua.

“But that wasn't even on purpose...!” Sua whines, but as usual Siyeon doesn’t respond. 

The room is completely dim. All the bedroom windows are completely boarded up with wooden planks, probably in fear of sunlight shining through. Sua tosses and turns but is unable to fall asleep. 

“..Siyeon?” Sua’s voice breaks the silence.

“What is it?” Siyeon shifts in her blanket.

“Weren’t you going to tell me about clans?”

“Clans are the different bloodlines of vampires. Each clan of vampires have certain traits, abilities and weaknesses unique to their clan.” 

“I’m guessing my weakness is the whole ‘no reflection’ thing?” says Sua, fiddling with the corner of her blanket with her fingers.

“Yes. Kindred of the Lasombra clan do not cast **reflections** , and do not show up in **photographs or videos**.” explains Siyeon. 

Sua frowns with gradual horror. “How am I going to do my makeup, then?”

“...You’ll have to get other people to do it for you, I guess.” 

“Does that mean you’ll help me with it later tonight when we get up?” Sua asks cheekily.

“It’s not like I really have a _choice_ , right?”

Siyeon lets out a small tsk and Sua swears she almost laughed out loud.

“Aw. It’s almost as if you finally understand how I feel.” teases Sua.

Siyeon grunts, seemingly a little irked.

“Why don't I have a reflection, though?” Sua’s voice cuts through the quiet again. “Seems kind of random to me.” 

“The Lasombra are famous for... **shadow magic** is what most people call it. You exist closer to the Abyss, the **shadow realm** , which is on a different frequency, making your physical form difficult to reflect, whether it is mirrors, or in digital form. At least that's what Jiu told me.” says Siyeon, cuddled up in her thick blanket. “ **There aren't very many of you Lasombra around these parts**. In fact, you're the first one I've met. So I seriously don't know much.”

Sua recalls the shadow tendrils that attacked her in the alleyway, when she was Embraced.

“You mean I can control shadows, like my sire did?” Sua had to admit that sounded a little cool.

“With training and experience, why not.” says Siyeon, closing her eyes once more. 

“Could you train me, then?” Sua asks with her best impression of puppy eyes, but becomes deflated when Siyeon doesn't notice her.

Siyeon gives a negative. “I don't think so. My fighting style would not suit someone like you. I’m only good when it comes to physical, hand-to-hand combat. Magic? Mind manipulation? I don't have a clue.”

Sua purses her lips. “Ah. What clan are you then, Siyeon?”

“ ** _Gangrel_**.” Yet another unfamiliar word.

“...Could you tell me about your clan?” asks Sua, fiddling with the corner of her blanket with her slender fingers out of boredom. 

Siyeon pauses, as if she had to reevaluate what she was going to say. “There’s nothing much to us.” 

Siyeon’s short answer didn’t satisfy Sua’s curiosity, but Sua didn’t feel like it was polite to pry, so she decided to change the subject. “What about Jiu?”

“She’s ** _Tremere_**.”

“How are they like?”

Siyeon is amazed at how she is not yet annoyed by the brown haired girl’s constant pestering. Usually, at this point, she would have just told the rookie ' _shut up or I will punch you_ '. 

“Kindred infamous for their **blood magic** , gargoyles and occasionally zombies,” she explains, letting out yet another huge yawn. “Some call them researchers and scholars; others call them sorcerers and witches. Whatever you choose to believe in, you don’t want to get on their bad side.” 

“You're telling me gargoyles and zombies are also real now? Next you're going to tell me werewolves actually exist.” Sua laughs dryly.

“You'd be surprised.” says Siyeon, making Sua instantly regret her words. 

“Are there other clans?” she questions. 

“Ha. Many. You’ll know when the time comes,” Siyeon laughs sarcastically, cutting the conversation short. “The sun is rising soon. Sleep well. You’ll need the energy for tonight.”

Sua shifts to face Siyeon, one arm propped up on her pillow. “Tonight? What are we going to do tonight?” 

“Again, you’ll know when the time comes, whelp.” says Siyeon, without looking at Sua.

_ -Recap- _

_**Jiu** : clan **Tremere** , can do **Blood Magic, make zombies, gargoyles.**_

_**Sua** : clan **Lasombra** , can do **Shadow Magic**. No reflections _

_**Siyeon** : clan **Gangrel** , ???_

_ Full recaps will be at the end of chapters. _

* * *

The next evening, Siyeon wakes in a pool of cold sweat. She blinks her eyes a few times.

_Another nightmare..._

Kindred rarely dream. Yet, Siyeon dreams every night. 

She stretches, cracks a few knuckles, and sits up on her mattress.

She gazes at the sleeping figure on her bed thoughtfully. The newly-Embraced Lasombra is sleeping like a log, her chestnut brown hair disheveled and covering her delicate features. She must be really tired.

Jiu told her that she’s actually one year older than her physically, but to Siyeon, Sua looks young enough to be a university student. Just like what the driver said the other day. 

_Too pretty to hurt anyone._

Except that she proved that horribly wrong yesterday.

As a Gangrel, compared to Kindred of other clans, Siyeon is naturally closer to nature, closer to the Beast… She can feel the Beast within her breathing, constantly trying to claw its way out of the depths of her mind where she has it locked it away tight. 

_( **Gangrel** : a vampire clan. Feral and wolf-like, these vampires are more sensitive the Beasts within them than any other clan. This is both their weakness and their strength.)_

The **Beast** is the manifestation of the most primal instincts within every Kindred - it is a savage, ruthless predator, always hungry for violence and bloodshed. Fall to it, and one becomes nothing less of a wild animal. 

But it’s not just her Beast that she’s vulnerable to. She can feel the Beast within others too.

From what she’s seen, many Kindred have chosen to shut off the beast from them completely - forcefully hiding them away under their façade of humanity, much like herself. 

Others however, choose to embrace it, like the Sabbat - reveling in the pure animalistic fury and bloodlust it brings.

There are also a few that manage to tame the beast within them, controlling them like a police officer would order a trained dog. But few ever reach that level of mastery, even in the case of Gangrels.

The Beast inside Sua _scares_ Siyeon- and Siyeon’s rarely ever afraid. 

Why? Some say that we are afraid of ghosts because we have no way of knowing where exactly they are. That’s the case for the Beast in Sua. The usual glowing, crimson eyes are instead a patch of pitch black darkness; its beastly grunts and snarls replaced with a void of silence. 

Just like the Lasombra, their Beasts are completely shrouded in shadow, invisible to all but the Lasombra themselves...

But Siyeon knows it _is_ in there, somewhere, like a ticking time bomb, a dormant volcano deep in slumber just waiting to be awakened. 

Siyeon knows she’s hurt others because of the Beast before, which is why she puts in so much effort to suppress it, and to teach others how to do the same. The Sabbat would call her a human-wannabe, a coward - but to her, this was the right thing to do. There’s no point to power if you can’t control it.

 _God, why did Jiu assign this girl to me again?_ Siyeon lets out a disgruntled sigh and gets up. 

* * *

Back in Jiu’s office, Jiu turns her laptop around and shows Siyeon a few coordinates on a digital map. 

“The elder’s mansion is right here.” Jiu says as she points towards the laptop screen.

“How are you so sure The Diablerist will strike here next?” Siyeon asks.

“It's complicated, but yes. You’ll just have to trust me.” 

‘Trust me’, again. She knows that she can trust her long-time friend, but ever since the older woman became **Baroness** , she changed. She was getting more and more information from others, but telling lesser and lesser things to Siyeon. 

_( **B** **aron/Baroness** : leader of a territory which is controlled by the **Anarchs**. _

_The **Anarchs** are the most modern of the three vampiric sects. They respect the Masquerade, but hate how Camarilla elders monopolize the entirety of vampiric society with their immense power and wealth. They hate being told what to do, and mostly comprise of young, rebellious vampires that want to bring change.)_

Although skeptical, Siyeon nods.

“Alright, and as for you, Sua, just stick to Siyeon and you’ll be fine. She’ll protect you.” says Jiu to Sua reassuringly. 

“Does she really have to come along? She'll just get in the way.” complains Siyeon, throwing a look at Jiu.

Jiu ignores the blonde's reaction and merely looks at Sua expectantly, waiting for a response.

“Okay.” nods Sua, who is honestly not in any position to refuse. She hears Siyeon mutters a few words under her breath disgruntledly.

Jiu closes her laptop and intertwines her fingers, placing them on the desk.

“Very well. I’ve already called a taxi for you two. He’s downstairs. It’s too suspicious and risky for him to drop you directly at the mansion, but he can bring you to the area nearby.” Jiu passes Siyeon a few bank notes for the taxi fare. “Stay safe.” 

Siyeon and Sua leave the room, the office door closing behind them with a quiet thud.

“Could you _please_ tell me what we are doing?” says Sua.

“We are going to... _apprehend_ a Kindred who’s been killing elder vampires left and right like some TV show serial killer.” says Siyeon as she opens the main door of the office, allowing Sua to exit first.

Sua tilts her head a little. “Serial killer, huh? So they only kill elders? Like older Kindred?” 

Siyeon gives Sua’s question some thought. “Older is not the exact word I would use, but yes, elders are vampires of lower generations and usually of old age, so you’re half right. In fact, to put it more clearly, this vampire has been _Diablerizing_ those elder vampires.”

“What’s Diablerizing?” Sua asks as the both of them walk down the hallway to the lift. She’s been learning so many new terms these past two days she feels like she’s back in school again.

“To put it simply, **Diablerie** is when a Kindred drinks all of another Kindred's blood and then devours their soul. Not only is it highly addictive, like doing drugs, it makes Kindred stronger as it **thickens their blood** and **lowers their** **generation**.” says Siyeon.

_(* **Generation** is an indication of how far a vampire is removed from Caine , the original vampire. _

_When a vampire Embraces , the resulting childe becomes one Generation higher than the sire— one more Generation further from Caine._

_The higher the generation, the thinner the original blood of Caine, the less powerful they can be.)_

“So you mean as the generation of the Kindred gets higher and higher, their blood becomes thinner?” questions Sua.

“Yes. For example, I am a 12th generation vampire. If I were to Diablerize you, a Kindred of the 10th generation, my blood will become thicker and more powerful, and my generation would become lower.” explains Siyeon as she presses the call button for the elevator.

“...Would you ever do that, though?” 

A sharp ping sounds as the elevator arrives at their floor. The both of them enter.

“To you? Please.” chuckles Siyeon. Sua can’t tell the true meaning behind that statement.

Downstairs, the two spot the taxi Jiu called for them. They sit in the backseat, leaving the middle seat empty.

Late night radio music plays in the background as they begin their journey. The air conditioning in the taxi is a little too cold. The steady rhythm of the vehicle moving slowly lulls Sua to sleep. 

Eventually, she succumbs and slumps towards the car door, her eyelids fluttering shut. Siyeon, who is on the other side of the back seat, notices it from the corner of her eye.

She tries to gently move Sua’s head away from the door. However, she accidentally startles Sua awake.

“What are you doing?” mumbles Sua, rubbing her eyes groggily.

“Uh. Y-you were leaning on the car door. Don’t do that.” says Siyeon in a low voice, swiftly retracting her hand and pretending to be busy with her phone.

“...Worried that I’ll fall out of the car?” Sua flashes Siyeon a sarcastic smirk.

Siyeon crosses her arms and shifts in her seat, her gaze sliding further and further from the brown haired girl. “No.”

“Don’t deny it, I saw you, silly.” Sua smiles as she closes her eyes again and leans in the other direction. 

Sua pushes herself too hard. The faint dark circles under her eyes and habit to sleep whenever and wherever she had the chance to explains it all. 

All that hard work, just for all of it to go down the drain after yesterday’s incident. 

They take the quiet and pleasant journey to another part of the city Sua is not familiar with. When they arrive, the both of them thank the driver and get out of the taxi. 

“Come on. It’s not far,” Siyeon leads, and Sua follows closely. 

The two of them follow a narrow dirt path through a murky patch of woods.

The way to the mansion is dark, but surprisingly, Sua is able to see somewhat clearly thanks to her newfound vampiric powers, if she focused enough, that is. With enough effort, she can hear the ants on the ground, the grass blowing in the wind, the meek cries of small animals hiding in the thick vegetation around her. She found it both frightening and fascinating at the same time.

Eventually, the thick forest clears and they arrive at their destination.

There is a huge mansion, and it looks like one of those haunted house levels one would see in a horror game. The building exterior is overgrown with vines, and some of the black paint on the metal fencing is already chipping off. If one were to imagine how Dracula’s castle would look like, this was it.

“You sure we’re not going to meet ghosts in there?” jokes Sua, smoothing out her jeans. They are a little too big for her because they belong to Siyeon.

“The only ghost you’ll meet is your-” Siyeon pauses. “Wait.” 

Siyeon points to the front gate. It is left wide open. “This is very strange. Be on your guard.” 

The duo enter the mansion compounds. Whoever lives here must be filthy rich. Lavish sculptures and fountains are seen around the area; the flowers and bushes look foreign and imported. A few luxury sports cars can be seen parked nearby. 

Inside the mansion, it is large, but empty. A glass chandelier hangs on the tall ceiling above them, reflecting the dim light coming in from the large, transparent windows, onto the expensive furniture decorating the room.

“Quiet. As expected. We’ll go check on his study. Mr. Kim always liked reading his books.” says Siyeon.

Sua resists the urge to sneeze as she waves her hand to clear away the thick clouds of dust in the air. “Do you guys send rookie vampires to go on dangerous assignments like capturing a deadly serial killer on their first night often?”

The other girl shrugs indifferently. “Well, I’m not allowed to leave you alone, and I have to be here. You’re just lucky you’re under us Anarchs, not the Camarilla, or you’ll be capturing a deadly serial killer on your first night, alone.”

“What’s the Anarchs and Camarilla?” questions Sua as they both walk down a corridor to the study room. 

“Jiu and I, we are both Anarchs. We fight for the freedom of all Kindred. Our main opposition are the Sabbat and the Camarilla.”

Freedom. Sua admits that Siyeon's statement sounded like a line straight out of a young adult novel set in a dystopian society.

“You make it sound like you guys are a bunch of activists.” she comments.

“‘Activists’ sound a lot better than the other two, to be honest. The Sabbat are a pack of crazy bloodthirsty feral beasts. The Camarilla are a group of asshole old geezers and hags who think they can boss us younger vampires around.” explains Siyeon, a tinge of anger brewing in her voice. 

“And I’m guessing you hate the both of them.” 

“The Sabbat threaten to set the entire world’s eyes on us, and the Camarilla view us Anarchs as unruly rebels when they themselves are the problem why the Kindred world can’t move forward.” Siyeon says frustratedly. 

The Camarilla. Sua knows little about the most dominant vampiric sect in Seoul, other than what she's heard her fellow Anarchs have said.

Through accumulation of resources for centuries by the elders, the Camarilla have grown filthy rich, powerful, and utterly corrupted. Whatever they want, they make sure to see it to the very end. A Masquerade breach? Bribe the officials to shut up. A competitor? Send spies to tear them down from the inside out. 

“So I see even Kindred have politics.” Sua can’t help but laugh.

“I guess even in death we cannot escape human nature.” Siyeon motions to a door at the end of a corridor. “That’s the study. Let’s go. Be prepared for anything.”

Sua just died a few days ago, and she isn’t planning to die again.

Siyeon’s eyes dart left and right, on guard for anything to happen.

All of a sudden, Siyeon stops dead in her tracks and quickly hooks Sua into her arms and into her embrace. A shocked yelp escapes Sua’s lips.

On the spot where Sua was standing is a pink haired girl. She looks quite a bit younger than Siyeon and her, holding a steel sword in her hand. If Siyeon hadn’t pulled her out of the way, she’d likely been stabbed, or worse. 

Siyeon launches a powerful side kick towards the girl, but she evades it skillfully with a backflip, landing on the ground with feline grace. Siyeon lets go of Sua with a quick “stay here”, before a blinding blue light swallows her entire figure, revealing a huge, werewolf like form after a few seconds. 

She pounces at the attacker with a fierce predatory might, and the girl narrowly dodges Siyeon’s gaping jaw, filled with rows of razor sharp fangs. It clamps shut with an audible _chomp_.

Sua observes from the safety behind a tall drawer, taken aback by the scene in front of her.

The pink haired girl moves at incredible speed, so fast that Sua couldn't even discern her figure, only flashes of pink as she unleashes a slashing frenzy with her sword onto the wolf. 

The wolf however, seemed unfazed, the sharp edge of the sword not managing to pierce through her furry hide, but at the same time, the girl‘s speed made it near impossible for Siyeon to grab a hold of her. 

Siyeon stands still, willingly taking all the punishment, looking like she was observing her opponent, waiting for something.

Out of nowhere, Siyeon somehow manages to grab hold of the girl by the leg, catching her off guard. The girl fails to break free as she dangles upside down helplessly. She then flings the girl like a ragdoll, sending her flying backwards the wall at the other end of the hallway with a loud crash.

Siyeon walks up to the stranger, shoving her elbow against the pink haired girl’s neck and the wall harshly. 

“.....You’re not The Diablerist, are you?” snarls Siyeon, her piercing, glacier blue eyes glaring straight into the girl’s. The girl struggles to free herself, but gives Siyeon a wicked grin without answering. 

“Siyeon..?” Sua’s voice calls out from behind her abruptly.

“Not now, whelp!” growls Siyeon, before returning her attention to the girl in front of her. “Who the hell are you?! Answer me!”

Still no response. There’s a smug look on the girl’s face, and Siyeon swears she’s resisting the urge to shove a fist into the kid’s face.

Sua rolls her eyes and grits her teeth annoyedly. “No, you dumb wolf, look here!”

Sua’s voice once again rings loud and clear behind Siyeon’s ears. Siyeon finally gives in and turns her head around.

“Tsk, what is it?!” she howls fiercely, clearly irked by Sua’s constant pestering during such an important time.

Sua points at the door to the study. It’s open. It wasn’t before.

Siyeon kicks the pink haired girl harshly in an act to vent her anger, and releases her. The girl holds her abdomen in pain. Siyeon transforms back to human form and storms into the study with Sua, rage building within her.

A skeleton is found on the floor in the midst of an ash pile. There’s no mistaking it - this is the remains of Mr. Kim. The ashes are very fresh, indicating that he was only killed perhaps just minutes ago.

“For fuck’s sake- Ugh!” stomps Siyeon, her hand on her forehead, exasperated. 

“...You know, I was going to do it myself, but someone clearly got ahead of us.” The both of them hear a voice come from behind them, it was the pink haired girl. 

Her scratch wounds from Siyeon’s claws earlier have healed completely, but her black dress is still torn with 5 distinct lines. Blood drips from the edges of her flower pink lips onto her pale, translucent skin onto her collarbone. On a beauty scale of one to ten, most people would probably say she ranks an eleven.

“What? Were you going to Diablerize him too?” Sua tilts her head in confusion.

Gahyeon lets out an amused giggle. “Diablerize? I’m no cannibal. My name is Gahyeon. I’m an artist. You see, this man here was supposed to be my next great masterpiece-” 

“Whatever it is, we don’t want to hear it.” Siyeon interrupts. “We have a Diablerist running loose. And just in case you can’t tell, we would have caught them if it weren’t for your interference.”

Gahyeon stares at Siyeon disinterestedly. “Oops. Well, sounds like a Camarilla or Anarch problem to me.” 

_Great. A goddamn **independent** , _Siyeon thinks to herself. Not swearing allegiance to any single faction, these Kindred are often nothing but selfish, self-centered pricks.

_( **Independent** : Vampires that do not belong to any of the three vampiric sects - the Camarilla, Anarchs or the Sabbat - because they wish to stay out of politics, or maybe simply do not care for them.)_

Sua turns to Siyeon, who looks angry and frustrated at the same time. “So what now?”

Siyeon groans tiredly. “What else is there to do? Report back to Jiu and tell her I fucked up again, that’s what.”

“Again? You guys seem to be having quite a lot of trouble capturing this so-called Diablerist, then.” mocks Gahyeon, in a carefree tone of voice.

The blonde haired girl shoots an antagonistic glare at Gahyeon. “No thanks to you, worthless independent.”

A proud smirk tugs at the younger girl’s lips. “I’m guessing you two are Anarchs, yes? You sound a little too… _uncivilised_ to be Camarilla-” 

“Continue that sentence and I will truly end you.” threatens Siyeon, baring teeth.

Gahyeon holds both of her hands up in an act of surrender. “Alright, alright, chill out,” she says, “I was just going to say, if you need any help, I can help.” 

“Help? Didn’t you just try to kill us a few minutes ago?” questions Sua suspiciously, folding her arms.

Gahyeon points towards the skeleton on the ground.

“You see, this ‘Diablerist’ just stole my target. The man’s skull was supposed to be mine to slice apart, and I do not simply let people who destroy my art go. If you guys want to kill them, count me in,” Gahyeon says, and looks at Siyeon. “Besides, even as an all powerful Gangrel, did you really think you alone could take on a vampire powerful enough to overpower an elder all on their own? You _know_ you need all the help you can get, especially you, newbie.”

Gahyeon steps closer to Sua. Sua, unperturbed, looks Gahyeon straight in the eyes. Siyeon stands in front of Sua protectively. 

“You’re a newbie, but my senses tell me you are actually more powerful than you look,” Gahyeon states, an ulterior motive clearly present. “Let me have the final blow on this killer, and I will train you in your disciplines. I happen to be quite knowledgeable, even though I am not from your clan.”

“You can tell what clan I am from?” asks Sua.

Gahyeon laughs, cheeky and fox-like.

“Of course I can. And trust me, disciplines are integral. There’s no point in being a vampire if you don’t learn them. Might as well stake yourself and throw yourself in the sun before something worse kills you.” she says.

Sua read up more about clans earlier in a book in Jiu’s office. Each clan has three disciplines. **Disciplines** are supernatural abilities used by Kindred, sort of how a mage would have their spells. Aside from their immortality, ability to heal, and ability to improve their physical capabilities through expenditure of blood, the **Disciplines are what grant Kindred their supernatural power**.

** _(optional, skip through this part if you are not interested)_ **

The **Lasombra** clan Disciplines are Dominate, a Discipline that overwhelms another person's mind with the vampire's will, forcing victims to think or act according to the vampire's decree, Potence, physical vigor and preternatural strength; and the rare and almost unheard of Discipline exclusive to her clan, Oblivion, the unearthly control over shadows.

The **Toreador** clan Disciplines are Auspex, supernatural senses; Celerity, supernatural speed; and Presence, supernatural allure and emotional manipulation over humans and mortals alike. 

The **Gangrel** clan Disciplines are Animalism, supernatural control over animals and the Beast; Fortitude, unearthly toughness; and Protean, a Discipline exclusive to their clan that allows them to assume a powerful, animal form. Those powerful enough can even assume an invulnerable mist form.

Lastly, the **Tremere** clan are perhaps the most mysterious of all. Apart from sharing the Dominate Discipline with her clan; and the Auspex Discipline with the Toreador; they have a Discipline feared by Kindred and mortals alike - Blood Sorcery, or Blood Magic. Who knows what they can do with those powers.

Sua hesitates, her gaze instinctively shifting to Siyeon, seeking assistance.

“...Fine. You can discuss this matter with our **Baroness** tomorrow. Anarch HQ. You know where.” Siyeon reluctantly tells Gahyeon. “Try anything, and I won’t hesitate to rip a new hole in your face that isn't your nose or mouth.”

_( **Baron/Baroness** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Anarchs.)_

Siyeon intimidates Gahyeon with a menacing stare, her taller figure looming over the smaller pink haired girl.

“Oh, you can believe me, I’m not dumb enough to lie to a Gangrel.” chirps Gahyeon nonchalantly.

After they exit the mansion, Sua scurries forward to walk next to Siyeon.

“Are you sure about this? What if she’s trying to bluff us?” whispers Sua, concerned. “I don’t want to be the cause of yet another problem for you.”

“If she dares to, I will tear her to shreds. She’s already had a taste of what I’m capable of. Knowing the **Toreador** , I bet this has something to do with her ‘ **art** ’ again. **Clan Toreador** are Kindred obsessed with everything **art and beauty** ,” Siyeon sighs vocally. “Besides, with your sire... _gone_ , I don’t know anyone else capable enough and willing to train you. I could just throw you to the wolves and let you learn your disciplines on your own through sheer fight or flight instinct and experience, but I’m too nice and you know that.”

“Ha. You finally admit that you’re nice.” pokes Sua playfully.

“I never said I wasn’t.” says Siyeon, who is clearly resisting a smile.

A beautiful smile extends on Sua’s rosy lips, and Siyeon swears she felt her dead heart flutter, even though she’s pretty sure it’s physically impossible. Sua’s growing on her for whatever reason, she doesn’t know if it's the Kindred's deadly beauty, or her warm and… _human_ personality - she’s probably the only rookie Siyeon has ever liked. And she hates that fact with all her will.

_Emotional attachments and relationships are only a weakness to Kindred._

But when will she truly learn?

_ -Recap- _

_**Jiu** : **Anarch** , clan **Tremere** , can do **Blood Magic, make zombies, gargoyles.**_

_**Sua** : **Anarch** , clan **Lasombra** , can do **Shadow Magic**. No reflections. _

_**Siyeon** : **Anarch** , clan **Gangrel** , can **shapeshift** into a werewolf-like form. _

**_Handong : _** _**Camarilla** , ??? _

**_[NEW] Gahyeon: _ ** _**Independent** , clan **Toreador** , an 'artist'._

**_Camarilla : _ ** _Largely controlled by elders. **T**_ _ **raditionalists** that enforce the Masquerade. Very old, rich and powerful. _

**_Anarchs : _ ** _**Rebels** that hate the Camarilla. They hate being stepped on and doing the dirty work for the old and powerful elders. However, they still respect the Masquerade, unlike the **Sabbat** (the third of the three vampiric sects)._

_Full recaps will be at the end of chapters. _

* * *

The next night, Sua and Siyeon wait anxiously outside of Jiu‘s office as Gahyeon talks to Jiu in the office.

“Do you think Jiu will accept whatever that Gahyeon is about to propose?” asks Sua, staring at the closed wooden door to Jiu’s office. 

“Honestly, I don't know. But I'm sure she'll make the right decision.” Siyeon replies, her eyes glued to her phone. 

“You seem to trust her a lot.” says Sua.

“I guess so.” 

“Yet you sound unsure.” Sua turns to face Siyeon, who is sitting on a table nearby with her legs crossed. 

“...A long time ago, maybe my answer would have been a firm yes,” says Siyeon, still focused on her phone. “Nowadays? _Hmph_. But it’s not like I can come up with better plans anyway, so I just follow her orders.” 

Siyeon looks unwilling to continue the conversation, so Sua left it at that. 

She sinks back into her chair and plays with her own phone. She got it back from Jiu just now, although she is not allowed to use her old number, or contact anyone she knew from before. She couldn’t even if she wants to; Jiu rigged the phone so that it would fail and alert her whenever Sua tried to. 

These few days, it’s been very hard for Sua to not follow the news of her disappearance, or look at the photos of the people she once knew. No doubt she's still trying to get over the loss of the people she's loved so much in her previous life - but she is slowly starting to realise that she just has to accept reality. 

She’s a fighter, everyone who knows and knew her will say this. Going through so much as a trainee under an entertainment company for so many years has made her numb to anything but the most stressful of situations. 

Whenever she was met with difficulties and hardships, she will just bite the bullet and deal with it, no matter what, and she knows that this is both an admirable strength, but also a weakness that can be exploited by others.

“No!” Siyeon cries out as she lifts her arms high up in the air in frustration. A large ‘You Died’ in bloody red font is slashed across her phone screen. Right at this moment, Gahyeon walks out of the room. 

“Looks like we'll be working together. Or at least, for now,” boasts Gahyeon proudly, much to Siyeon’s annoyance. “Your Baroness just told me about our next task.”

Gahyeon pulls out her phone and shows the two of them a picture of an old, abandoned church-looking building.

“This is where the supposed ‘Diablerist’ killed their first victim.” she says.

“That’s the old **Tremere** chantry, but isn’t that deep within werewolf territory? There’s no way we're making it in there without getting mauled to death.” inspects Siyeon, a finger on her chin.

_( **Tremere** : a vampire clan. Known for their Blood Magic. Jiu belongs to this clan.)_

Sua raises an eyebrow curiously. “What’s so bad about werewolves?”

“Imagine a Gangrel like me, but twice the speed, triple the strength and quadruple the size. There’s a reason why Kindred flock to cities - it’s the only place safe from those savages. Pray that you never meet one.” Siyeon warns, and Gahyeon nods in agreement.

If a vampire werewolf like Siyeon says that actual werewolves are not to be trifled with, Sua sure as hell is going to take her words seriously.

“Anyways, it _may_ be in werewolf territory, but lucky for you two, I happen to be quite familiar with the area.” says Gahyeon.

The words “why am I not surprised” are practically written on Siyeon’s face.

“It’s a place where you Anarchs, the Camarilla, or even the Sabbat don’t dare tread, so I get to work on my art there in peace,” Gahyeon continues, “ I have a small hideout there, and I know all the safe routes, so I can bring the two of you there in safety.” says Gahyeon haughtily. 

“But it’s getting late. The sun’s going to rise in less than 3 hours. There’s no way we can make it there in such a short amount of time.” says Siyeon, checking the clock on the wall nearby.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll have to wait for the next night bus schedule that’s headed there, which is this Saturday.” says Gahyeon as she counts the days with her fingers. 

_How rural is the area exactly?_ Sua wonders. It’s probably one of those small villages most public transport would not go to for more than once a week.

“In the meantime, I think I owe you some lessons, Sua?” Gahyeon’s voice snaps Sua out of her thoughts.

“Oh, right.” Sua gets up from her chair.

“I’ll come along.” Siyeon says, putting her phone in her pocket.

Gahyeon laughs loudly. “You seriously remind me of a guard dog, Siyeon. I’m sure she’ll be fine a few hours away from your supervision. Right, Sua?” 

Sua looks at Siyeon, who is giving her an uncharacteristically worried look. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Sua gets up from her chair.

“Very well.” says Siyeon, albeit a little bitterly.

* * *

“It’s really hard to shake off that vigilant guard dog of yours, eh? Or should I say guard wolf?” comments Gahyeon as they walk to the other part of the building. The way Gahyeon talks is like a fox - sly, clever and cunning; but still oddly lovable and cute at the same time, making you want to trust her. A deadly combination.

Siyeon lets out a short laugh. “I think she’s just worried. Just like every rookie she’s brought around.”

“Ha. I know of Siyeon, she’s quite the famous figure here in Seoul - and trust me, what I’ve heard and know about her is the direct opposite of how she treats you.” says Gahyeon, the corners of her small lips lifting upwards knowingly. “It’s really rare to see a Gangrel acting like she did, you know? You sure you’re not using **Dominate** on her or something?” 

_( **Dominate** : a Discipline that overwhelms another person's mind with the vampire's will, forcing victims to think or act according to the vampire's decree.)_

“No, but why do you say so?” asks Sua, her hands buried in the deep pockets of her jeans. “Are Gangrels generally not like her?”

“Kindred of clan **Gangrel** are usually loners who prefer solidarity. Think of the term ‘ **lone wolf** ’ - that’s basically them. To see one be willing to work with someone, let alone be so protective over them, is beyond rare. Strange, even.”

Sua thinks silently. Gahyeon pushes a glass door open as they walk towards the office cafeteria. Sua follows behind her.

“Also, you mentioned you’re a dancer?” questions Gahyeon again, twirling her cherry pink hair with her pinky finger.

Sua nods.

“Yeah. A pretty successful one at that. But becoming a Kindred took it all away.” she says with a slightly resentful tone.

“Hmph, ‘Kindred’. Looks like the human wannabe lot are really rubbing off on you. You lot may view vampirism as a curse. But to me, it’s a blessing.” says Gahyeon, and Sua wrinkles her nose. 

“Why would you think so?” asks Sua, sounding almost disgusted, repulsed.

Gahyeon turns to face Sua, her expression serious. “Art is something that requires time. How many masterpieces are an average artist capable of producing within a lifetime? Few. Most would be lucky with just one. But as a vampire, you never age, you have all the time in the world. As a fellow artist you understand, right?” 

Sua does not agree nor disagree. “...How old are you, exactly, Gahyeon?” 

“Much older than you, Siyeon, and even your Baroness Jiu. _Let’s just say I’m old enough to know better than all of you._ ”

Perhaps there is some truth behind the pink haired girl’s words, but Sua tries not to think too much about it. She can’t reprimand the fact that she now has to feed on other living, breathing humans to survive, or how it could be counted as a blessing. Maybe she’s just too soft-hearted.

“Oh yeah, one more thing,” Gahyeon’s voice snaps Sua back to reality. “Don’t let that Siyeon brainwash you. Camarilla, Sabbat, even your Anarch friends… all of them are the same. Power-hungry monsters, no matter how much they sugar coat their agenda.” 

“What’s wrong with the Anarchs?” Sua keeps her voice low, given how they are literally in the Seoul Anarch headquarters right now.

“The Anarchs are a bunch of radical idealists that want to achieve an impossible reality.” Gahyeon tells Sua. “We can’t just topple a 600 year old system willy-nilly. As much as I hate to say it, vampires were once humans, and humans are dumb.”

“In that case, weren't the elders once human as well?” says Sua.

“Yes, but once you live past a certain age, your views on the world start to change,” Gahyeon says, and Sua thinks maybe Gahyeon is referring to herself, but brushes the thought away. “Besides, you know what they say - the older you grow, the wiser you become... at least, most of the time.”

“Then who else am I supposed to align myself with?” Sua asks, puzzled. 

“Yourself.” Gahyeon says simply. “Trust no one but yourself.”

Sua doesn’t know what to say. The Anarchs did save her life after all, and as such a newly-turned Kindred, she isn’t about to go around making enemies. Siyeon didn’t seem to have such a high opinion on independents like Gahyeon either, so there must be a reason behind it. 

“I’ll give it some thought.” 

They arrive at a mostly empty room, a few cardboard boxes here and there. It seems like it was used as some sort of storeroom. Jiu permitted them to use this room, provided that they do not make too much of a ruckus.

“Whatever you want to think, there’s one thing you must first learn how to do - how to survive.” says Gahyeon as she assumes a combat stance. “Watch and learn.”

* * *

Siyeon walks around the archives of the HQ. She sits down in front of an old, dusty computer surrounded by wires and various electronics. She boots it up and is greeted by a blue screen and a search bar. 

She punches in the words ‘Diablerie’. No results. Whatever data she was looking for, it must have been encrypted.

Siyeon pulls a USB drive out from her pocket, and inserts it into the CPU.

Suddenly, the page refreshes, and a whole list of results start popping up, enough to fill the entire monitor screen. 

Looks like whatever that **Nosferatu** sold her was the real deal. Otherwise she would have yet another face to cave in, although this time she would feel less bad as she would destroying an already deformed face.

_( **Nosferatu** \- a vampire clan. Each human turns into a deformed creature when they receive the Embrace from a Nosferatu. Ugly and shunned, they hide in the sewers of the city, collecting information from the shadows and selling it for a dear price.) _

She clicks on the first search result. It’s a report of sorts. The decrypted data is unclear, given how tight the security system of the archives are, but one can still make out a few words from the unintelligible jumble of words.

**_Project Alpha_ **

_HighV2NoPS 16FmcVGzZsCtDZConfidential  
_ _DV Camarilla ZuB6cNH0Ggan KJRswL  
_ _6qbJCWfXiZ 24 p4e11RfUDALCHEMy  
_ _WcMBloodCGDKiLMRitualqoJ  
_ _K1m_YoOWyeSLnBXjP3Np  
_ _d02zlJAlpoENs 1 SUCCESS  
_ _Infusion rW8RNLCy GANGRELwYDIABLERIE  
_ _20 D1v Thin Blood wCh0Ft_

“Thin Blood…” Siyeon rests her chin on her hand. She recalls a memory with Jiu, one from many, many years ago...

_“Do you know of **Thin Bloods** , Siyeon?” _

_“They’re those new Kindred, right? Those **14th and 15th generation** ones? ”_

_“Yeah, those **half-Kindred half-human people.** ” _

_“I've heard of 'em, can't say I know any though. Most that I've come across are either dead or on the verge of it.”_

_“Yeah. Actually, I used to be a Thin Blood back when I was with the Camarilla.”_

_“But you’re clearly no longer one now.”_

_“There’s a way for Thin Bloods to become full-fledged Kindred, you know.”_

_“Really? What is it?”_

_“ **Diablerie**.” _

_“Isn’t that illegal?”_

_“Once, I gained favor of the Prince and he gave me permission to do it.”_

_“So you committed legal cannibalism.”_

_“You weren’t a Thin Blood. You don’t know what it’s like. I was desperate.”_

_- **Recap** -_

_**Diablerie : **The act of a vampire drinking all of another vampire's blood. Cannibalism for vampires. If you diablerize a vampire with lower generation than you, it **thickens your blood** and **lowers your generation,** making you more powerful._

Having an ex-Thin Blood Baroness resulted in many Thin Bloods joining their ranks recently. However, there are, of course, people who despise her for relying on the Camarilla to become full Kindred, some even calling her a Camarilla spy. But Siyeon knows that isn’t true. She knows what Jiu has been through under the Camarilla. There’s no way-

“Siyeon? What are you doing here?” Jiu’s voice sounds out behind Siyeon’s ears, startling her. 

Siyeon immediately turns the computer off and stands up to face Jiu. 

“Oh, nothing. I was just looking up some information.” 

Jiu raises an eyebrow. “I see.”

“W-what brings you here all of a sudden, though?” Siyeon stutters.

“I was just looking for you. The kids need your help again. Something about a broken television. They’re upstairs.” says Jiu.

“What?! I just fixed that yesterday!” groans Siyeon. “I’ll go see what’s up then.”

Jiu watches Siyeon rush out the door in a hurry. She walks up to the computer, and notices the USB drive sticking out of the CPU. She plugs it out and examines it thoughtfully.

“...What in the world are you doing, Lee Siyeon...” 

She keeps the small plastic drive in her pocket, and heads out the archive doors without another word.

* * *

The three gather in front of the bus stop according to their plan.

“There’s no one here except for us... You sure there’s still buses operating at this hour?” Sua inspects her phone screen. It’s 10.24p.m.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ve taken this exact bus for over 5 years now.” Gahyeon says with absolute certainty.

Siyeon places her hands on her hips impatiently. “Well, wherever this bus is, it better turn up soon. We’ve waited for over an hour,” 

Suddenly, the trio are greeted with a beam of light homing in from a distance.

“Well would you look at that. It’s here,” chimes Gahyeon cheerfully. “Told you it’ll eventually arrive.”

The three board the bus, inserting a few coins and crinkled notes into the vertical slit on a metal box near the driver, the coins making a loud clanking noise as they hit the bottom of the container.

The bus is no doubt an old model, the paint outside is coming off, the interior is cramped and stuffy, and the windows are winded down for the circulation of air, due to the non-existent air conditioning system. Not that the three passengers it has needs to breathe, however.

They sit towards the middle of the vehicle, but not at the front where they would attract too much human attention; neither at the very end as the sound of the old suspension and engine would get too loud. Sua chooses the window seat, and naturally Siyeon sits on the seat next to hers. Gahyeon sits in the seat in front of them. She swings around to face the two as the bus starts to trundle away from the bus stop.

“By the way,” asks the pink haired girl cheekily, her hand on her cheek. “You two don’t happen to be together or anything, right?”

Siyeon swears she almost choked on air.

“No!” the two blurt out defensively, accidentally in sync. Siyeon in particular had a notably big reaction to the question - much to Gahyeon’s amusement.

“Alright, alright, I get it, it was just a question, no need to get so worked up.” she giggles before turning her back around. 

Siyeon breathes a silent sigh of relief.

The towering buildings of the city slowly recede into the distance, the magnificent city lights illuminating the obsidian night sky.

Siyeon glances at Sua, who is staring out of the window thoughtfully. Her wavy brown hair drapes on her shoulders like a mildly flowing waterfall, flaming brightly like a bonfire under the occasional street lights passing by. Her tall nose further accentuates her beautiful side profile, her chestnut coloured eyes glisten under the moonlight, under long lashes.

If she did not become Kindred, she would probably make a very beautiful celebrity, Siyeon ponders. There was a time she too had her own hopes and dreams of achieving stardom, memories locked away in the deepest corners of her mind. But there is no point in reopening old wounds.

Sua notices Siyeon at the corner of her eye. 

“...Siyeon?” 

“What is it?” 

“I have a question.” Sua leans her elbow on the metal next to the window, facing Siyeon. Siyeon once again averts her gaze, unwilling to look eye to eye with Sua. 

“...Sure. Ask away.” says Siyeon, tucking her arms into the warmth of her black fur jacket. It’s not like she has anything else better to do. Who knows how long it’ll be before this tortoise of a bus manages to crawl to their destination.

“Why did you join the Anarchs?”

Sua notices Gahyeon shift in her seat in front of them.

Siyeon ponders. It’s been some time since she has thought of, let alone brought up the past.

“Honestly, how I joined is pretty similar to yours.” Siyeon tells Sua. “The whole sire-gone-now-I'm-alone situation.”

“What do you mean?” asks Sua inquisitively.

“When I first became Kindred, my sire abandoned me. It’s a Gangrel clan thing. Something like a trial.”

_(*Hint: " **Gangrel** are generally lone wolves" - Gahyeon)_

Sua looks at Siyeon sympathetically. “That must have been terrible.”

“Terrible is a severe understatement.” says Siyeon, staring at the floor of the bus.

“So, how did you pass?” questions Sua.

“I didn’t.”

“Huh? But you’re here now, aren’t you?” Sua blinks her eyes, confused.

“I almost died, and... Look, it’s... something I don’t want to talk about,” Siyeon sinks her chin deeper into the collar of her jacket, looking unusually withdrawn. “Anyways, when I was on the verge of death, Jiu rescued me. That’s the gist of it.”

So _that's_ why Siyeon is so trusting of the Tremere lady, Sua thought. They weren’t just friends, _Siyeon owes her her life_.

“So is that why you trust Jiu so much?” 

“Mm.” Siyeon hums.

Sua notes Gahyeon shifting in her seat yet again. The Toreador is definitely eavesdropping. 

“...It must be nice having someone to trust.” says Sua.

“Yeah.” 

Surprisingly, the corners of Siyeon’s lips curve upwards, just slightly. It’s the first time she’s seen the blonde haired woman smile. She looks a lot prettier with that expression on - it made Sua’s dead heart warm up a little. 

But just as fast it came, Siyeon’s smile quickly fades away, and her face returns to her usual frosty, stoic expression. Sua doesn’t know if it's a defense mechanism, or a habit. She just thinks Siyeon isn’t who she looks like she is. 

After about an hour or two, or maybe more, Sua lost track because she fell asleep; they arrive at their destination. Sua is gently shaken awake by Siyeon. 

The three get down from the bus. Gahyeon immediately instructs them to follow her quietly.

They’re currently in the outskirts of the city. Lush forests fill a majority of the area around them, and cars on the road are few and far in between. They cross the street and down a mountain to reach a small neighborhood. 

“The chantry is further down this road,” Gahyeon points while keeping her voice low, “If we stick to the street lights outside these houses we will be safe. Never under any circumstance step out of the light, or wander off on your own. ‘ _They_ ’ like to wait for their prey in quiet and dark places.”

Sua and Siyeon give a serious nod and follow the younger girl’s lead carefully. Most of the houses have already turned off their lights, but some of them clearly still have people awake in them, going about their daily lives, a privilege Sua now wishes she had. 

Despite travelling with two capable and seasoned Kindred, Sua can’t help but still feel anxious. Just barely a week in and she’s already putting herself in harm's way again. Toy with death too much, and one day it will bite back.

After a while, they enter the quieter part of the neighborhood. The amount of houses with lights on start to diminish, and the number of abandoned houses start to increase. Luckily for them, the street lights are still bright, and occasionally, they would spot security cameras about. Perhaps they were installed because something happened.

Sua notices something in the distance. Her eyes light up.

“That’s it! The chantry!” she points at the cross on top of the building roof. It is located at the far end of the neighborhood, behind a brick wall and a few unoccupied houses.

They enter the chantry compounds through a hole in the brick wall. 

Surrounding the chantry is a graveyard. Rows upon rows of moss laden brick pillars stand upright like guards amongst a sea of dead, the faded etchings sculpted on its bodies barely visible under the illumination of the warm street lights. The chantry building looks like it is about to crumble, the metal beams visible amongst the cracks in the concrete.

The grass surrounding them is overgrown and unkempt, truly confirming the fact that they are very likely the first people to have set foot in here in a long time, other than The Diablerist and their victim. 

“Great… Not creepy at all.” Sua groans.

“What? Afraid of some ghosts, whelp?” says Siyeon.

“Hell no!” barks Sua defiantly.

“Hey geniuses, mind keeping it down? Just in case you two can’t tell, we’re trespassing on private property right now.” shushes Gahyeon, who is already making her way through the thick ocean of grass and weeds, “Last thing we need is someone calling the cops.”

The two immediately stop their bickering and return to the task at hand. 

The chantry doors creak open with a heavy, rusting sound. Moonlight spills through the colourful stained glass of the windows, bathing every corner of the decrepit room in a pale shade of white. It’s not enough to swallow the darkness that had been residing in that room for perhaps decades, but bright enough that one can make out the thick fog of dust particles suspended in the air.

Dirty cobwebs hang on almost every surface, their footsteps loud against the oak flooring, echoing throughout the empty shell of what used to be a holy, radiant place. 

Siyeon takes over Gahyeon’s role of leading and proactively starts investigating the area. Gahyeon merely stands around, appreciating the beautiful works of art on the stained glass. Sua notices a few rooms at the end of the church. 

The first room looks like some kind of classroom. There is a blackboard on the front of the room, a few stray pieces of chalk lay silently nearby on the teacher’s desk. She heads inside. The students' desks are made of wood, although most have succumbed to the wear and tear of time and have started rotting. This must be where the Tremere students learned about blood magic. Having spotted nothing of particular interest, she moves on to the next room. 

The second room is just a store room. Cardboard boxes disgustingly caked with layers upon layers of dust are stacked on top of each other in a haphazard fashion, looking like they were about to topple over. The floor is littered with torn papers and unidentifiable junk. The filth in this room deeply irritates Sua, so she closes the room door without a second thought.

The third and final room is located at the very end of the corridor. She raises a hand to turn the doorknob, but realises it’s stuck. 

“Hm… It’s locked. Maybe I can…?” she mumbles to herself, reaching the front pocket of her knapsack, frisking around for something.

Coincidentally, Siyeon walks over, Gahyeon tagging along behind her.

“Is something the matter?” asks Siyeon concernedly.

“The door’s locked.” informs Sua.

Siyeon puts her fists together. “Alright, leave it to me-”

“Calm down, _big bad wolf_. Not everything requires brute force.” Sua says as she reveals two bobby pins. She bends one into an ‘L’ shape, while stretching the other open into a straight line. With dexterous fingers, she starts working on the lock skillfully. Just a few seconds later, the door unlocks with a satisfying click.

“Not exactly an angel in life, were you?” Gahyeon laughs, looking impressed.

Sua smiles, proud of herself. “I know how to handle myself.”

Siyeon merely keeps her hands in her pocket, looking mildly embarrassed. 

Sua keeps the makeshift lock picks in her pocket and opens the door, only to be welcomed by yet another gruesome sight.

“Oh boy.” says Siyeon, peeking into the room, her head above the shorter girl's. 

“What is it?” Gahyeon calls out, struggling to see anything, the two older girls obstructing her view. Frustrated, she pushes the door wide open out of frustration.

A lone wooden chair sits alone in the center of the room, on top of a grody pool of dried blood. Just like the scene they witnessed yesterday, a yellowing, decaying skeleton lays on the chair, a pile of ashes on the floor. The skeleton’s limbs are tied to the chair with burlap rope. 

“You know, I know we were looking for a murder scene, but I didn’t expect it to be this… _grisly_.” says Sua, pinching her nose as the air is filled with the unbearable metallic smell of old dried blood. At the same time, she notices a piece of tattered piece of paper on the floor next to the skeleton. She picks it up and reads it.

_Kim Jiu,_

_I knew you’d save me._

_You don’t know how it was like, having to spend all those years in darkness… alone… But it was the thought of you that kept me sane. When you freed me, I felt like I had a purpose to fulfill._

_Do you remember Mr. Park, remember when he chased us out of Gangnam? Fucking Camarilla bastard, I made sure he died a terrible and miserable death._

_I stalked him for weeks, looking for the best time to strike. And today, he was visiting one of the graves here alone, so I took the chance to put him down. Ironically, he joined the very one he came to visit, how sweet._

_The worthless bug climbing the food chain, taking down predators stronger than any bug could have ever imagined to even be in the same room as… They viewed us as vermin, pests - but I’m about to change that._

_I’ll make them pay. You’ll see._

_Many thanks again, and remember… I love you. Remember, I am only doing this for you and I._

_-Your love_

Sua couldn’t help but feel a cold shiver travel down her spine. The other two gather around Sua, curious.

“What does it say?” Gahyeon questions.

“I… I don’t know… Just read it for yourself.” Sua gives up, and forces the letter into Siyeon’s hands. The two read the letter, Gahyeon looking shocked, while Siyeon’s expression is unreadable.

“... Hey, isn’t your Baroness named exactly the same as the receiver of this letter?” points Gahyeon. “What a coincidence…?”

Gahyeon is trying to lighten the mood but honestly it’s not working one bit. Siyeon is abnormally silent. 

“...Siyeon?” Sua looks at Siyeon worriedly.

She doesn’t respond. Instead, she shoves the letter back into Sua’s hands and storms out of the room. Sua turns to Gahyeon, not knowing what to do.

“Damn,” says Gahyeon, looking ever so slightly worried. “Told you how you can’t trust anyone. Not even someone from within the same sect as you.”

Sua bites her lip thoughtfully.

Something fishy is going on and Sua doesn’t need to be an extremely experienced Kindred to know. If Jiu’s the one that “freed” this person on their killing spree, why would she also send them to hunt them down? Whatever it is, Jiu owes them an explanation, especially to Siyeon, who had always believed in her.

“I don’t think I’m comfortable with her wandering alone without us like that. We should go check up on her.” says Sua, heading for the door. She folds the letter into the size of her palm and puts it in her pocket for safekeeping. 

“Agreed. Let’s go.” 

The both of them return to the main area of the Chantry. The blonde haired girl is nowhere to be found.

“Siyeon?” shouts Sua. Her voice echoes throughout the hollow building, but there is no response. She peers into the first room. Nothing. Second room. No sign of her. Sua’s mind starts wandering to the worst scenario possible.

“Maybe she's outside...?” guesses Gahyeon. Even she can’t help but sound a little concerned.

Outside, the icy cold air bites into Sua’s bones as the night grows darker. It’s almost midnight. The gnarled trees above them creak side to side as the wind howls in a foreboding fashion. The ashen crescent moon hangs above them ominously amongst thin wisps of clouds.

Sua's eyes immediately starts scanning the area, looking for any sign of the Gangrel. It didn’t help that Siyeon was wearing all black too. 

Eventually, Sua spots Siyeon standing near a grave, hands tucked away in her cozy fur jacket, looking deep in thought. 

“Siyeon!” Sua calls out. She immediately rushes up to her.

Siyeon lets out a surprised sound when she notices the brown haired girl suddenly pop up next to her.

“Wah! What is it? You almost gave me a heart attack!” Siyeon says, clutching her chest.

“ _You’re_ the one that almost gave us a heart attack!” scolds Sua, shoving the taller girl's shoulder angrily. “We couldn’t find you in the Chantry and we thought something bad happened.”

Siyeon looks over to Gahyeon, who indeed does look slightly relieved at the sight of her.

“Oh… I didn’t think about that,” she scratches the back of her neck sheepishly. “I guess I shouldn’t have just walked off like that. Sorry.” she apologises. She’s supposed to be looking after the whelp, not the other way around. 

Sua’s face is a mixture of anger and relief. 

“...Just don’t do that again.” Sua sighs in exasperation, like an older sister to a misbehaving sibling. “So, are you going to tell Jiu about what we found?” 

Siyeon gives a deep frown. “I tried to, but she’s not replying to my texts, or answering my calls…”

“Sounds kind of suspicious to me,” comments Gahyeon, who walks up to regroup with the two. 

“She could be just busy. She told me she had a few errands to run tonight.” says Siyeon.

Gahyeon shrugs. “Hm. Well, where do we go from here?”

Siyeon puts a hand to her forehead, looking troubled. “I don’t know. Where's the letter?”

“With me.” informs Sua. 

“Alright, I trust you to keep it safe. For now we should-” before Siyeon can finish, the three of them hear an eerie, crunching noise coming from the ground surrounding them, loud and clear in the silent night. 

The three of them turn their heads towards the source of the sound.

Not far away from them, a rogue hand surfaces from the dry soil, spraying dirt and uprooted plants all around its surroundings. The arm looks gray, wrinkly and just overall repulsive. 

More and more hands start burrowing their way out of the ground.

“Zombies!” Gahyeon shrieks as she narrowly dodges another arm that emerged right next to her.

The three stand together on the small stone pavement in the center of the graveyard, as more and more of the dead rise from their century long slumber.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” panics Sua, tugging on Siyeon’s sleeve.

But it’s too late. They’ve been surrounded.

* * *

**Recap**

  
- **Kindred** : Vampire.

=====================================================================

-[NEW] **Generation** : The higher the generation, the thinner the blood in the vampire's body, thus the weaker the vampire.

  
-[NEW] **Diablerie** : Vampire cannibalism. By drinking the blood of their own kind they thicken their own blood, lowering their generation, making them stronger. Highly addictive.

  
-[NEW] **Thin Blood** : High generation vampires whose blood is so thin they are barely considered vampires, and are considered more human in comparison [more explained in future chapters]. Can become full Kindred by lowering their generation (through Diablerie).

=====================================================================  
  
-[NEW] **The Beast** : The bloodthirsty inner predator inside every Kindred that fights for control.  
 _*Clan Gangrel (Siyeon's clan) are more closer to the Beast than any other clan. It is both their weakness and their strength._  
  
=====================================================================

 **The three vampiric sects:**  
- **Camarilla** (traditionalists, old and very powerful, enforces the Masquerade) HANDONG

  
-[NEW] **Anarchs** (young rebels that hate the old and powerful, respects the Masquerade) JIU, SUA, SIYEON

  
- **Sabbat** (violent vampire supremacists that hate the Masquerade) THE DIABLERIST

===================================================================== 

- **The Masquerade** : Campaign to ensure the secret of the existence of vampires is kept from humans.

  
-[NEW] **Independents** : Vampires that do not belong to any sect. GAHYEON

  
- **Prince** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.

  
-[NEW] **Baron/Baroness** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Anarchs. JIU

=====================================================================

 **Characters:**  
- **Jiu** : Anarchs, clan Tremere _(Vampires known for Blood Magic, gargoyles, zombies and the like.)_  
[Baroness. Wants to capture the Diablerist, Subject Alpha alive. She was once a Thin Blood under the Camarilla, but became a full Kindred through Diablerie, and is under the Anarchs instead of the Camarilla now.]

- **Sua** : Anarchs, clan Lasombra _(Vampires rarely seen in Seoul, known for Shadow Magic, cannot be seen in reflections, photos and videos.)_  
[Newly turned vampire. Currently under the strict supervision of Siyeon for unknown reasons. One of the very few Lasombra in Seoul. Helping Jiu and Siyeon to capture the Diablerist, Subject Alpha.]

- **Siyeon** : Anarchs, clan Gangrel _(Vampires that that can shapeshift. Lone wolves.)_  
[Jiu's right hand woman. Extremely loyal to the Anarchs and Jiu. Hates the Camarilla. Shuns the Beast inside her. Can shapeshift into a powerful, wolf-like form.]

- **Handong** : Camarilla, ???  
[Works for the Camarilla. Received orders from directly from the Prince.]

-???: ???, ???  
[???]

-???: ???, ???  
[???]

-[NEW] **Gahyeon** : Independent, clan Toreador _(Vampires obsessed with art and beauty. Very charming and sociable.)_  
[Promised to help the Anarchs to capture the Diablerist. A rather old and experienced vampire. Sua's mentor. Seems to be more than what meets the eye, though...]

- **The Diablerist** : Sabbat, ???  
[True identity unknown. A mysterious serial killer that Diablerizes their victims.]

- **Sua's unnamed sire** : ???, clan Lasombra  
[???]  


Twitter: @dcwolfieawoooo  
  
Feedback: https://curiouscat.me/ZWolf_


	3. Desperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beware the ivory queen.

* * *

_“She’s beyond saving. We’ll have to eradicate her.”_

_You don’t look up from your laptop screen._

_“No. I believe in her. There's still hope.” you say, determined._

_The short, black haired woman just shakes her head at you._

_“You younger Kindred are all so bright, yet you use your abilities for all the wrong things. You’re the one that started all this, you know that right?” the red haired woman continues, her low, alluring voice lined with a hint of cruel mockery._

_She pulls a cigarette from its packet, and lights it with her pocket lighter, the sight of the small flame making you flinch._

_“I know. Which is why I’m taking matters into my own hands.” you sigh and close your laptop. “Tell me, Seungyeon, what are you truly here for?”_

_The black haired woman forces a smile. “I’m here to inform you of my departure from Seoul.”_

_You raise your head to face her._

_“Why are you leaving?”_

_“You do not need to know why,” she says as she blows cigarette smoke into the still air. “But, I do have a few... mutually beneficial offers for you before I leave. One that might even help you solve your problem.”_

_“...What do you need?” you say as you unconsciously grip the arms of your chair tighter._

* * *

“Get ready, we have to get rid of them!” says Siyeon, her body begins to glow a familiar blue as she begins to shapeshift. 

“Oh my god,” Sua covers her mouth in shock. “This isn’t happening right now.”

Shambling bodies climb out one by one from the dirt, their flesh rotten and barely hanging on their bones; their eye sockets empty and soulless. It's a horrifying scene.

Without hesitation, Siyeon, now in the shape of a bipedal, bat-like wolf, starts thrashing the zombies nearby with her massive claws, savagely ripping through them like a paper shredder. Gahyeon unsheathes her sword, which was concealed behind her back and her bag.

“Okay, I know you have zero experience, but remember what I taught you,” Gahyeon says, tossing Sua a combat knife about as long as her forearm. “Go for the heads or necks. It’s their weakness.”

“What if I get bitten?!” shouts Sua. 

“Does it matter? You’re _dead!_ ” Gahyeon shouts back.

Sua catches the weapon with her right hand as she watches Gahyeon get to work, her movements graceful and fluid, but strikes sharp and precise. 

The sword in the pink haired girl’s hand isn’t a weapon, but an extension of her own limb, wielded with much familiarity and skill. Zombies drop like flies as she decapitates each and every one of them with astonishing ease.

There are about a half a dozen zombies approaching Sua. Siyeon is taking care of the zombies in the north and east, while Gahyeon is dealing with those in the west, leaving her with those in the south. She bites her lip in determination as she recalls her lessons with Gahyeon…

_“You’re so stiff. I thought you said you’re a dancer?”_

_“I’m learning how to use a fucking sword, not dance.”_

_“In that case, why not think of it like dancing? The sword is just a prop. The key lies in your movements, your state of mind, your flow...”_

Closing her eyes, she focuses, drawing energy from the red, viscous liquid laying stagnant in her body, like a still lake. A surge of vigor pulses throughout her body.

She grips the knife harder, and slashes as hard as she could at the throat of an incoming zombie. Its skin is dry and rubbery - there’s no blood left in these hollow husks. The head comes off easily with her newfound strength. The abomination collapses on the floor, before disintegrating into ash, truly dead. 

Weaving through the shadows of the night, Sua listens to the steady rhythm of her own footsteps on the hard pavement, letting them guide her like a song. 

She was terrified of hurting a human a few days ago - but these are monsters, monsters that would hurt other innocent people in the neighborhood if they manage to get out. She can’t let that happen, and perhaps that was the driving force behind the adrenaline pulsating through her dead veins.

Eventually, Siyeon chomps down on the few remaining dead with her razor sharp teeth, and the two other Kindred finish the rest of them off in one fell swoop from their swords. Siyeon transforms back into her human form. Piles of ash litter the graveyard floor.

“Fuck. Where did they come from…” curses Siyeon as she sits on the stone floor, looking exhausted. 

“The graves…?” Gahyeon says, also looking worn out.

Siyeon rolls her eyes. “No shit, sherlock, I meant what caused these zombies to suddenly rise out of no where, you idiot-”

The three suddenly hear a low, rumbling growl that sounded particularly _wolf-like_. 

“...That wasn’t you, wasn’t it, Siyeon?” Sua’s stomach starts to sink. 

“Uhm. No…” Siyeon stands up, looking around cautiously.

The three of them jolted by an ear piercing howl.

They turn towards the woods behind the church, a pair of hungry eyes staring back at them. Upon closer inspection...

Gahyeon grits her teeth. “Shit. It must have heard us.”

“Look out!” Siyeon yells, as a large, dark gray humanoid wolf makes a straight beeline for them, its front paws anchoring into the dirt and propelling its gargantuan body like a missile towards them. They make a dive out of harm’s way, causing the wolf-man hybrid to miss. It crashes into a row of tombstones, shattering them into tiny rocks. 

Sua gets up from the ground, only to find herself separated from her two teammates, who are now behind the werewolf.

“One after another, when will something actually work out for us…?!” utters Sua under her breath, unsheathing her combat knife.

“Don’t! There’s no point fighting! Run!” Siyeon screams to Sua frantically. Sua, upon hearing Siyeon’s words, notices the werewolf looking in her direction. 

_Oh no_. 

Sua does not waste a single second thinking about the most logical decision right now, her instincts are just telling her to trust Siyeon and make a run for it. Wherever her legs take her. 

Siyeon can only watch in absolute horror as the brown haired girl sprints deeper into the woods, the werewolf hot on her trail. 

“We have to go after her!” Siyeon attempts to run after the two, but Gahyeon holds her back. 

“Have you lost your mind?! If we all go in there, we're dead meat!” the pink haired girl reasons loudly, struggling to cling onto the strong, hard-headed wolf. “All we can hope for is that she somehow finds her way out of there…”

Siyeon’s face is contorted with fear and worry. Gahyeon almost feels bad for her. 

Emotions and relationships are for humans. To Kindred, emotions are just an excuse to be incompetent. Relationships are just an illusion used for trickery and betrayal. Love, more often than not is just a mirage. 

Kindred aren’t humans, they are predators - wolves in sheep’s clothing. Inside this shell of a human body, they are anything but human. 

Why pretend to be something you are not? Gahyeon doesn’t understand.

* * *

Sua can’t feel her legs. Her body has been pretty much acting on its own accord. She can feel her fatigue ensuing, her hunger growing, the Beast in her growling just like the first day she tasted blood...

 _No, focus, Sua._ There is a beast at least seven times her size behind her chasing her right now, and blood is for once the second thing on her mind since she was dragged into this nightmare of a mess. She surveys her available routes in the midst of the woods. She spots a few buildings amongst the trees. 

_Is that the neighborhood?_

But there was no time to hesitate. She dashes quicker in that direction, a feat she didn’t think was possible. The fearsome growls and grunts of the beast constantly tugging behind her ears.

Sua manages to make it to the group of houses she spotted from afar earlier, but reality isn’t what she expected it to be. The area she is in is totally abandoned and deserted. Buildings stand like skeletons, some so battered by the merciless passing of time, they merely exist as a pile of unidentifiable rubble and sand.

She notices a house that seems to be in better shape than the rest - most of the concrete hasn’t crumbled off and the doorway still looks intact. If she could make her way inside, the werewolf would not be able to fit in, she thought.

She dashes into the building, and expectedly the werewolf is now stuck outside, it’s gaping jaws stretched wide, revealing rows of deadly fangs. Raw, molten anger and resentment flowing in its howls and roars. Sua escapes to the second floor frantically, almost tripping on the wooden tiles that have come loose from the tiled floor. 

In the safety of the upper floor, she leans against a wall and collapses into the floor, a fresh wave of exhaustion washing over her. She felt numb, and her vision blurry. She’s hungry. She needs blood. She musters the energy to pull her phone out of her pocket, but she is so weak the metal slab of technology just slips out of her hands like a block of ice. She closes her eyes.

_Weak._

She hears a familiar voice in her head. The voice she heard on her very first night awake as a Kindred.

 _You are weak._ A pair of red eyes glow in the darkness like a pair of sparkling rubies, in front of her.

“What? Who are you?” Sua calls out.

_You need not know. All you need to know is that you are inadequate and you will die._

Sua approaches the pair of eyes carefully, looking into its gaze. It stares back, the sheer frigidness of its red pupils peering into the depths of Sua's very soul.

“I won’t be dying. At least, not today.” Sua says determinedly.

 _Words are empty when there is no action to back them up,_ it responds, words slurred and spaced out.

The dark mass grows larger and larger, its black tendrils growing and extending like tree roots, slowly enveloping Sua in a dark embrace. 

Sua feels a terrible chill run up her spine, but stands her ground.

_Hm… You are different from the other fools your sire had chosen. You are not a coward. But that might just mean you’re too dumb and hard-headed to run._

Sua bites her lip, mustering up her courage. “You know my sire?”

_Seungyeon? Of course I know her. She’s the prime example of an ace predator. What Kindred are supposed to be, what **Caine** intended. Your race’s destiny was to become one with us. But yet a majority of you are cowards. Afraid. Pathetic. Living behind a false reality. _

_(* **Caine** : The first and original vampire.)_

“We are not cowards. We are merely trying to survive.” Sua argues, as she feels her legs go numb as the cold shadows extend up to her waist. “If we let you take control, we are no more than animals.” 

_There is no point in ‘surviving’, when you can truly live. Give yourself to me, and I will give you greater power you would have never imagined._

The dark shadows envelope her entire body, up to the very tip of her head. Sua’s ears starts to ring, her vision blurring, like she’s drifting away. But she stands her ground defiantly.

_Together, we can conquer the world. Imagine all the blood you can have..._

“Leave me alone, I don’t want your power.” Sua grips her forehead, eyes squeezed shut. “I’m better than that brainless, bloodthirsty monster you made me into the other day.”

_Hmph. Say what you like, but you Kindred are all the same. One day, you’ll come crawling back to me, begging me for that sweet sweet sense of-_

The both of them are interrupted by a loud rumbling noise, threatening to collapse the domain they were in. The shadows immediately retract, freeing Sua from its icy grip.

Sua struggles to keep her footing and falls on the floor, her consciousness fading.

_Looks like someone is approaching you. Go, worm, deal with them like you always do, like the pathetic human you are. I will speak to you again when the time is right._

The dark mass withdraws itself back into the darkness, the pair of red eyes disappearing into the shadows...

Sua is startled by the sound of footsteps behind her. She weakly turns her head, and is greeted by a tall and slender girl with shoulder-length blonde hair. Wispy bangs drape slightly over her gorgeous eyes, which glow a faint blue in the dim lighting.

Her skin is as pale as snow, much more so than the typical Kindred. She is wearing an expensive looking, pristine white coat paired with boots, making her seem like royalty, or at least some sort of celebrity. 

“You look like you need some help, **neonate**.” the girl's voice is distorted and muffled.

_(* **Neonate** : A newly embraced vampire.)_

Sua is too fatigued to squeeze out an answer.

The girl merely squats down next to Sua, and hands her a plastic pack resembling an IV bag, filled with red liquid. It’s a blood bag.

“Here.”

Sua isn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She tears an opening at the top of the bag with her teeth, and takes big gulps of the nourishing fluid into her empty stomach before tossing the dry bag to a corner carelessly. But the ravenous hunger in her has not yet been quelled. 

“More.” Sua demands, a little too aggressively, but the other girl obliges. She passes a few more packs to Sua gently. 

Eventually, Sua is satisfied. She passes the extra blood pack she couldn't finish back to Handong, but Handong motions for her to keep it.

Sua's pink lips are now dyed a deep, bloody scarlet. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. The blonde haired girl offers her a tissue. Hesitating at first, Sua eventually accepts the kind offer.

“...Who are you?” asks Sua, finally regaining some sense of reality.

The girl stands back up. 

“You can call me Handong.” Her voice is low and smooth like velvet.

“Why are you here? How did you find me?” 

“I was visiting an old friend at the cemetery.” Handong says. “I witnessed everything that happened. I saw you running off alone into the forest, so I followed you here to check up on you.” 

“You are a fellow Kindred, no? But you are not from my clan. Why help me?” says Sua apprehensively. She could tell because she could see Handong's reflection on the window nearby.

“Ah, was it that obvious?” Sua thought she saw Handong force a smile. “Yes, I am not of your clan. I am a **Ventrue**. As for why I helped you, it’s because I have a plan to kill that werewolf. That werewolf has been responsible for the death of many mortals and Kindred.” 

_( **Ventrue -** a vampire clan.)_

Sua raises an eyebrow, suspicious. “So what exactly does your… plan entail?”

Handong reveals a weird contraption in her left hand that Sua doesn’t recognise. It looks like a pipe surrounded by a colourful mess of tangled wires, all sealed together haphazardly with layers of duct tape.

“What’s that?” 

“A pipe bomb. My plan is that we lure it and trap the werewolf into that building over there…” Handong points to a three-story building that’s relatively intact, quite a distance away. “I’ve scouted that area. There’s an old garage door, there’s a small back door behind the building. From what I have seen, you're definitely faster than I am, sneakier as well, so you can act as bait and lure the werewolf in through the garage door, while I set up the bombs. We lock it in, and we can escape through the back door where it can’t, then I will detonate the bombs. Which will make the building collapse on itself...”

“...And onto the werewolf.” Sua places a finger on her chin thoughtfully. Sounds like a foolproof plan to her. “But why not just throw the bomb at the werewolf?”

“This is no grenade, there’s a delay between the time I press the detonator and the actual detonation time of the bomb, time we honestly do not have.” Handong explains. “Besides, I only have two of these. Miss both, and we are done for. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

Handong’s words make sense, and she’s honestly Sua’s best chance of getting out of this hellhole anyway, so Sua goes along with it.

“...Fine. Let’s get this over with.” Sua says, having no other choice.

“Very brave, neonate. You’ll go far in Kindred society, I’m sure.” the blonde haired girl praises. “I’ll sneak out and prepare the bombs. I should be done after two minutes, so by then you can get out there and start luring it.”

“You’re going back out there alone?! What if that thing catches you?” 

Handong smiles warmly and she squeezes Sua’s hand, as if she were making a promise. “I won’t. Worry about yourself, neonate*.”

Graceful as a cat, she pounces out of the window, into the dark night. Sua stares at the hand Handong gripped earlier.

 _Two minutes_ …

Sua pulls her phone out of her pocket to check the time. She presses the power button, but the screen doesn’t light up.

“Shit. The battery’s flat.” curses Sua. “Guess I’ll have to count it by seconds manually.” she says as she taps her foot, counting the numbers in her head as she anxiously waits for her turn…

* * *

“Kim Sua… Why aren’t you picking up your phone?!” Siyeon grumbles frustratedly, her phone next to her ear and a hand on her hip.

Gahyeon and Siyeon are currently back in the neighbourhood, in the safety of the bright lights and civilization. They stand on the sidewalk as the disgruntled Gangrel desperately tries to contact the missing girl.

“Does the call end immediately or does the ‘calling’ sound go on or a while?” 

“It ends immediately, it says the number is unreachable.” Siyeon says distractedly as she types furiously on her phone, paying minimal attention to everything else around her.

“Then it’s either because she entered an area with no signal, or her phone battery died.” predicts Gahyeon.

Siyeon sighs in defeat, and puts her phone away, before suddenly glowering at Gahyeon. 

“But seriously, why couldn’t you pull her along the _right_ side?!” she stomps on the pavement once angrily.

“What?!” counters Gahyeon loudly. “ Isn’t taking care of her _your_ job? Why are you blaming me?!”

“You could have at least _helped_! I didn’t expect a literal _Walking Dead_ situation!” yells Siyeon.

“Well neither did I! Besides, it’s way too much of a coincidence, right?!” Gahyeon says, her pupils flaring as anger starts bubbling within her as well. “Those things came out right after we found out your Baroness’ dirty laundry, and you know the Tremere and their blood magic!”

“You shut your mouth about her! You have no righ-” Siyeon wants to continue, but a throbbing pain starts to spreads in her abdomen as she tries to do so. “Argh… No right… To talk about her like that…” 

“...You look like you’re hurt.” says Gahyeon. 

“It’s nothing.” Siyeon waves a hand dismissively, but Gahyeon insists.

“Let me have a look.” 

Siyeon lifts her shirt. Countless blue-black bruises are scattered across her flat stomach. Wounds were expected - unlike Gahyeon who focused on a hit and run tactic, Siyeon was more of a brawler, her fighting style was more head on - Gahyeon just didn’t expect them to be _this_ bad.

“...Holy crap. You need to rest and feed, like, now.” says Gahyeon, who is surprised at how one can sustain such injuries while still acting as if nothing happened.

The blonde haired girl scoffs. “I’m a Gangrel. I don’t need-.”

Gahyeon rolls her eyes.

“I’m not giving you a choice.” she states. “My haven is not far. I have a **ghoul** you can feed on. You can rest up there.”

 _(* **Ghoul** is a term used to describe a **minion** created when a _ _vampire_ _gives a bit of vampiric_ _blood_ _to a_ _mortal._ _They are primarily **still alive and human**. __Ghouls are addicted to their master's blood, and the control of blood is the primary way that ghouls are managed by their vampire masters._ _)_

“Of course a Kindred like you would have a slave like a ghoul.” utters Siyeon, clutching her side. 

“What's wrong with ghouls now? Doesn't your Baroness have ghouls of her own?” 

“They're not ghouls! They were never blood-bonded. They were never tricked into giving their life away to us for free - they knew what they were getting into.”

“Oh, _please_. Get off your moral high horse.” shoots Gahyeon, crossing her arms annoyedly. “Not every ghoul is a poorly treated worm.”

Siyeon ignores Gahyeon, looking away. “First Sua, now this.” 

Gahyeon sighs heavily and turns around, tired. “Whatever. You'll know when you get there. You know yourself better, Siyeon. You know you have no hope of finding the girl in this pitiful state of yours right now. Blood is blood. Whether you like it or not.”

Before Siyeon can argue, the pain starts flaring back, this time worse than before, like her muscles were twisting themselves into dead knots. She resists the strong urge to curl up into a tight ball on the ground.

“...Fine. But the moment I’m better, we’re coming back out to look for her.” Siyeon finally gives in, very reluctantly.

* * *

_118… 119… 120._

The internal timer Sua set in her mind runs out.

She stands up, carefully peering out of the window, surveying the streets. As expected, she sees the werewolf still roaming about on the front lawn of the house, too dumb-witted to figure out another way in. 

_You only live once, or in this case, twice, I guess._

She clenches her jaw, and exits the building from a window facing the backyard, parkouring down to the ground floor with nimbleness she did not know she had. She makes a big round around the werewolf silently, manipulating the shadows around her to shroud her from sight, towards the direction of the garage. It's a miracle that the werewolf hasn't smelled her presence yet so far, but Sua isn't going to push her luck any further.

Holding her fist, Sua steps out of the shadows of the bushes, onto the tar road. The werewolf’s sharp eyesight notices its prey almost instantaneously, its attention quickly shifting to the small-framed girl standing in the middle of the main street.

Sua doesn't think twice, because if she does she’s about to become werewolf food. She bolts towards the old garage, the feral animal chasing after her wildly.

“Handong!” she screams as she shoots into the building, into the kitchen area behind the garage. Expectedly, the werewolf charges on all fours, straight past the garage doors. Handong presses a button, and the metal doors whirr shut. The both of them make a dash for the back door, trapping the werewolf in the building. 

“Get down!” yells Handong as she pushes Sua to the ground along with her.

The building behind them explodes with a deafening _BOOM_ , filling the air with dust and smoke. 

Sua turns around to looks at the scene behind them. “Did we-?”

“No time! Let’s move!” urges Handong as she grabs Sua by the waist, running for the forest.

The two girls run and run, back into the woods, and finally back to the familiar cemetery. Sua surveys the space behind them. It doesn’t look like they were followed.

 _Thank god._ She sits on the floor, petered out. Even Handong looks tired from all the running, her hair disheveled, her coat covered in dust and debris from the explosion.

“You're going to call your friends, right?” the blonde haired girl asks Sua, hands on her knees. 

Sua jumps in realisation. She pulls out her phone, but remembers it ran out of battery. “Uh. My phone’s dead.”

Handong reaches for her phone. “You want to borrow my phone instead?”

“I don't remember their phone number...” admits Sua.

The blonde haired girl thinks for a moment.

“Why don’t we walk around and see if we can find them? They might be around the area.” suggests Handong. 

“Okay.” 

But their search is fruitless. Her two companions are nowhere to be found. Sua feels hopeless. She’s stuck in an unfamiliar situation, with a stranger. Again. It's like history is repeating itself. 

“Maybe they went back to the woods to look for me?” Sua frowns.

Handong shakes her head in disagreement. “That’s unlikely. If so, they would have heard us when we were running back. We weren’t exactly the most stealthy, and the forest isn't all that big.”

“...Right.” 

“...Actually, I have an idea. You’re from Seoul, right?” 

“How did you know I’m from Seoul?” asks Sua, mildly surprised.

Handong laughs, her laughter soft and lady-like, her large, bright eyes creasing into a cute line. “Your clothes look a little too nice for someone from the countryside. Plus, there's a bus from Seoul that only comes here every Saturday.” 

Sua looks at her clothes. She had time to do a little bit of shopping the past few days, but she likes Siyeon’s clothes so much she hasn’t really tried on any of her new clothes yet (although much to Siyeon's annoyance). The grey hoodie she’s wearing is obviously of designer brand thanks to the logo up front. Her navy blue jeans are insignificant, but the branded white sneakers Jiu bought for her are also another huge giveaway.

“Oh.” she shuffles her feet awkwardly. Handong lets out a small giggle.

“Anyways, I’m from Seoul too. I’m heading back soon, so I was thinking maybe you’d want to tag along? You can charge your phone, call your friends and tell them you’re okay when you get back.” 

Sua considers her offer for a bit. So far, Handong seems like a nice person, she’s helped her not once, but twice up to now, and does look genuinely concerned for her. 

“...Alright. Why not. It doesn’t seem like we’ll be finding them anytime soon, anyway.” says Sua, convinced. 

A warm smile spreads on Handong’s face.

“Excellent. Come along then. My car’s just parked nearby,” she motions to a parking lot not far away. “Oh, and another thing?”

Sua raises her head. “What is it?”

“I never got your name.” 

“Sua.” 

“I see,” says Handong, smiling. “What a beautiful name.”

* * *

“She was attacked in her own home.” the middle-aged man says, hands in the pockets of his expensive looking business suit, crisp as a new bank note.

Jiu looks upon the skeleton laid out on the oak flooring in front of her.

“Any guess who the killer might be?” she asks.

He shakes his head gravely. 

“No leads at the moment. We’re just lucky there were no **Masquerade** * violations.” 

(The **Masquerade** : an organized campaign enforced by the **Camarilla** to ensure that the existence of vampires are kept secret from humans so that vampires can co-exist with humans in peace. A violation or breach usually consists of the blatant display of vampiric supernatural powers in front of humans, e.g feeding in plain sight, use of Disciplines in public. Violators are often harshly punished.)

 _Good. It looks like they have not caught wind of what happened,_ Jiu thinks to herself.

She knows very well that if the Camarilla finds out about the Project Alpha incident, her and her people will definitely be shunned further than they already are. She can't let that happen. She tucks a few strands of her raven black hair behind her ear.

“Could it be Sabbat minions?” she masks her nervousness with false rationality.

“No. It can’t be them. No way those _mongrels_ can pull off a kill as clean as this.” he says, pointing at the spotless floor, not a drop of blood in sight. 

“...We will put in all our resources to identify and apprehend this killer." she concludes, packing up her things and preparing to leave. "I expect the Camarilla to do the same.”

The smartly-dressed man bows politely in response. “Of course.”

* * *

Gahyeon leads Siyeon to an empty house quite a distance from the neighborhood. She rounds to the back towards a basement door. She looks around for any potential onlookers, before unlocking the basement door with a key and ushering Siyeon to get in. 

Inside beyond the descending flight of stairs is a long, dimly lit tunnel. Flickering, barely functional lamps hang on the cracked cobblestone walls. Water drips from the metal pipes running above them. At the far end of the tunnel is an ominous looking door. The both of them make their way through without talking, their footsteps echoing loudly throughout the damp, river-smelling darkness.

Siyeon doesn’t like the idea of this. She’s injured, and about to head into a stranger’s den. Does she trust Gahyeon? Not one bit. But it’s not like she has any other choice. She’s hungry and needs the blood. 

Normally, she’d probably pick off someone wandering about alone, or a wild animal if she were really desperate. However, her current circumstances forbid that. The streets are too bright and under surveillance, not to mention totally empty; and the forest is too risky to hunt in with the werewolves roaming about.

As the door comes closer into Siyeon’s field of vision, she is slightly taken aback by the sheer amount of locks there are on the door. Whatever is beyond them, the owner sure did not want any unwanted ‘guests’. 

“What’s up with the tight security? Got something to hide?” Siyeon comments.

“Can’t a girl have her privacy?” says the pink haired girl, who is unlocking the locks one by one with a ring of keys with practiced speed. 

With a satisfying _‘ka-chunk!’_ , the last padlock is released. Gahyeon pushes the door open. Siyeon takes a step inside cautiously.

For a basement, Gahyeon’s haven looks rather fancy and well-decorated. A fancy couch and a golden coffee table decorate the living room area. Red-themed paintings hang on the wall.

There are also countless toy animals scattered throughout the living space. Siyeon picks one up and inspects it carefully. It's a teddy bear. Its eyes are two shiny black sequins and its mouth is a jagged line drawn on with a black marker. It must be quite old, too, because the leather has already started cracking at the seams, exposing the cotton stuffing within. 

The stuffed animals stare at Siyeon with their soulless, empty eyes… As if they were watching her every move; listening to her every word. 

_Yep… Not creepy at all._ Siyeon thinks to herself.

“Welcome home.” a girl dressed in a black dress walks out from a room to greet them. 

She must be Gahyeon’s ghoul, Siyeon thought, and she's right. 

“I trust everything’s been fine at home?” Gahyeon says as she smiles at the girl. 

“Mmhm!” she answers happily.

“If that’s the case, my friend here is a bit hungry… ” 

The girl looks at Siyeon a little too enthusiastically. 

Typical of ghouls, this poor human is probably addicted to the addicting feeling being bitten, Siyeon thinks.

_(Side note: Feeding is not only an exquisite feeling for Kindred, but it is also extremely pleasurable for the victim. That is, if the victim is willing, of course.)_

Gahyeon turns to Siyeon. “Here, go on. In the meantime, I have some matters to attend to in my room. You’re free to look around my house after you’re done, or rest up on the couch. As soon as you’re ready to go, just come talk to me.” says Gahyeon, before walking away.

Siyeon faces the girl in the black dress awkwardly.

“...Uh. So. You sure you’re okay with this?” she asks, scratching her head.

The girl giggles cutely. “Of course! It’s no big deal. Any friend of Gahyeon's is a friend of mine.” 

Siyeon approaches the girl, not knowing how to behave. 

There are a few ways to feed yourself as a Kindred. 

Some, especially the degenerates - the **Toreador** , like tricking prey into submitting their blood. Methods like persuasion, intimidation, flirtation - all were the exploitation of the human’s weakness - emotions. Mimic the prey into thinking you're one of their kind. Tricking them into a false sense of security.

_(*Hint: Gahyeon is of the Toreador clan.)_

But Siyeon doesn't favor this way of feeding. She's done it a few times, it's not hard for someone of her level of beauty to sway a few gullible men and women to do her bidding - but it just didn't seem right to her. 

The second, is with money. Money can buy you anything in this world, despite what people like to tell themselves. This method is particularly common in the **Ventrue**. **The ruling class, the nobility, aristocracy, wealthy individuals** – it's these people that make up the **Ventrue** clan. Many had lived their lives while everything was handed to them on a silver platter, and now in unlife, blood is no exception. 

_(*Hint: Handong is of the Ventrue clan.)_

Why is this method so popular with the Ventrue? It's because they're the only ones who can afford it. 

Given their population demographic, naturally, the Ventrue make up most of the high ranking positions of the **Camarilla**. The mere thought of them makes Siyeon’s blood boil. But that's besides the point. 

Lastly, like many **Gangrel** , Siyeon chooses to hunt. In this world, the strong eat the weak. The Beast isn't in them just for show, whether they choose to use it or not. 

Kindred are predators. Walk in the dark alone at night, and you're making yourself prey. Get bitten then, tough luck. That's what her sire told her many years ago, and although she despises the man, she's never forgotten his words. Saved her more times than she could count. 

Because of that, most of the time, Siyeon feeding victims were usually unwilling prey, so she’s never really fed on someone who actually is okay with being bitten before.

In other words, this is her first time biting a consenting human.

She grips the girl’s arm gently, brings it up to her lips, and punctures the skin with her canines. 

As blood flows onto her tongue, into her system, she feels invigorated once again, the familiar sense of satisfaction that is **the Kiss**. Her wounds slowly start to fade, and eventually disappear.

_( **the Kiss** : the act of feeding)_

After about half a minute, Siyeon knows it's time to stop. She releases the girl, who is now looking a little pale. 

“You okay?” Siyeon lowers her head slightly, concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Don’t worry about me.” She gives a genuine smile.

“...May I ask, how does Gahyeon treat you? Are you okay staying here alone..?” Siyeon can’t help but let her curiosity get the better of her.

Ghouls, although they are still completely sentient beings, are too often abused, most kept as blood cattle or expendable bullet sponges. 

That’s exactly what’s stopping Siyeon from keeping a ghoul, honestly. Ripping an innocent human out of their regular lives just to fulfil your own selfish desires just seems wrong.

The girl gives the question some thought. “Honestly? I would say she treats me pretty well, at least compared to other vampires, I guess? She makes sure I’m safe and well fed, and she isn’t rude to me or anything. Besides, I'm better off here.”

Siyeon tilts her head. “Why so?”

The girl laughs ruefully. “My family was murdered in a house robbery twenty years ago. I was the only survivor - not because the robbers let me go, but because while my other family members died from their wounds, Gahyeon saved me.” she points to the scars on her collarbone and her arms. “She fed me some of her blood, and it saved my life. Or at least that's how it works. I didn’t have anywhere to go after that, so she brought me in.”

_(*Side note, ghouls age at a slower pace, given they drink their master's blood often enough to maintain their ghoul status.)_

“How old were you then?” 

“19 years old.” answers the girl obediently.

19… Siyeon remembers her days as a 19 year old, when she rejected her university offer to pursue her dreams. “What were you doing before this? Did you attend school?” 

The girl shakes her head sadly. “My family didn’t have money for school. My dad was a drug dealer. My mom was a prostitute. My brothers were gangsters. I think if I weren’t here, I would be on the streets, walking in their footsteps. I didn’t want that.”

“I see.” says Siyeon, deep in thought. “Oh, you can go now, I shouldn’t keep you from your work any longer.”

Siyeon nods politely as the girl bows and returns to her chores. Siyeon sits down on the couch, staring into space. Suddenly, she remembers something. 

“Shit… I was supposed to call Jiu.” Siyeon realises. She dials Jiu’s number, anxiously waiting for her friend to answer. 

But no one picks up. 

_Great… Not you, too... Seriously, what’s the point of having a phone if you’re not going to answer?_ She sinks further into the couch and closes her eyes - a futile attempt at escaping from reality. 

* * *

Sua sits in the front seat of Handong’s car. Handong is busy driving, her attention glued to the road in front of them. 

She listens to the music playing in her car. They are in Mandarin.

“You're into C-Pop?” Sua asks.

“Actually, I’m Chinese. I came here a few years ago to expand my horizons, and because the Camarilla here needed my… help.” Handong replies. 

_So, this lady is Camarilla after all._ Sua could tell the moment she saw Handong, by the way Handong carried herself. 

“Sua… If you don’t mind me asking, what were you and the two other ladies doing in that graveyard earlier?” Handong’s head shifts to Sua slightly.

Sua bites the inside of her cheek, contemplating whether to tell the truth. “We… were told to look for something there.” she mumbles.

“There isn’t much to look for in a church that has been abandoned for a century, isn’t it?” 

Handong was right, her statement _did_ sound kind of suspicious.

“... A-actually, we are trying to catch a Kindred that killed many other Kindred recently. So we were looking for clues.” clarifies Sua, as vague as the explanation is, she wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the entire truth either.

The car approaches a red light. It decelerates and eventually comes to a halt. Handong faces Sua, an arm on the steering wheel, the other resting on the divider between the front seats.

“...I know about it, Sua. The killer that goes around Diablerizing elders. It’s sort of a big thing right now. So you can just tell me.” 

Sua’s eyes widen. “You do?”

Handong tilts her head sideways. “Everyone knows, no? Do you not - oh. It did happen a few months back, so I guess you wouldn’t know.”

“Know about what?” Sua is quite frankly tired of being the new kid on the block.

The green light flashes brightly. Handong shifts her attention back to the road as the car starts to accelerate forward again.

“You see, this ‘killer’ was once a **Thin-Blood** , but now, she is no ordinary Kindred. **She's** a dangerous specimen some... _Tremeres_ were experimenting on. They named the undertaking ‘Project Alpha’. They tried to make a **Thin-Blood and Kindred Hybrid** ,” Handong explains as she drives. 

_(Hint: 'Project Alpha' has already been mentioned once, earlier in this chapter.)_

“What exactly is a Thin-Blood?”

“As a generation of Kindred create another new generation of Kindred, the original vampiric blood passed down gets thinner and thinner, until they become virtually non-existent in the 14th and 15th generation vampires, who are appropriately named **Thin-Bloods**.”

From Handong's description, **The Diablerist** was once a **Thin-Blood female** , which **may e** **xplain why she goes around Diablerizing others** , Sua thinks, as she tries to piece the pieces of the puzzles together. 

_(*Hint:_ _In a nutshell, **Thin-Bloods** are a half-human half-Kindred, neither here nor there. They don't have the full extent of the powers of a full Kindred, but lack some of the weaknesses of a full Kindred. They still need to drink blood and do not age, so they aren't exactly fully human either.)_

“That means they are weaker, right?” For Kindred, the thicker your blood, the more potent your blood is and the more powerful you can be.

“Thin Bloods lack some of the traditional disciplines and abilities Kindred have, yes, but lack their weaknesses as well. Some of them can survive sunlight, bear children, or even ingest human food.” says Handong.

 _Wow, that honestly doesn’t sound half bad_ , Sua thinks to herself. She admits that she does miss the taste of pork barbeque, just a little. Blood still ranks number 1 on her new food ranking list after all; well, not like it has any contenders anyway.

“Anyways, Kindred and Thin Blood - put these two together, and you have the perfect being, right?”

“That sounds way too easy to be true,” says Sua. “It didn't actually work, didn't it?” 

“Not only did it not work, when the damned Anarchs decided to release her and other experimental subjects before the project could be finished all in the name of ‘freedom’, they released the very killer that you were looking for today.” 

“Wait. The… _Anarchs_ were the ones who set her free?!” exclaims Sua.

In tandem with the letter, this practically confirms the fact that Jiu is in fact responsible for the Diablerist's release. 

Since many elders are from the _Camarilla_ , and The Diablerist - who was released by the _Anarchs_ \- has been killing elders almost exclusively and _Diablerizing_ them, if this information ever became public... there is going to be war between the two vampiric sects for sure.

“Yes. The very Anarchs you are working with, surprised they aren't the hero angels they claim to be?” says Handong, her facial expression unreadable. “Look, I… don’t want to come off as rude or anything, but you might want to reevaluate your allies and enemies, Sua. The Camarilla are not the devils that you think we are. We are the most dominant Kindred sect for a reason.”

“Yet many still don’t talk very highly of you,” argues Sua, as she recalls the countless times Siyeon told her how much she hates the Camarilla, how they are corrupted, stuck up pricks. “People have called you guys a pyramid scheme, stuck up pricks, privileged elitists...”

“Ha. The bottom eaters love to complain when they do not put in half the effort the rest do.” Handong's facial expression twists, just a little. “Honestly, it’s simple. Follow the elders' orders, and one day you'll get your turn. The Anarchs love explaining false truths to newer Kindred.” 

“Well, now I'm giving you a chance to explain the actual truth to me.” says Sua, a little impatiently.

“The Anarchs complain we do not give them a choice whether they are under the Camarilla or not. But Kindred must be united to survive, even if it requires the use of force. The laws we punish by are for the greater good of all Kindred.” The corners of Handong's mouth twitch. 

“Even if the laws are inherently flawed?” questions Sua.

“The laws have been passed down for many years and have kept the race alive until now. So, yes.” Handong merely says. 

Sua figures someone like Handong is dead set in her ways and will no longer budge, so she chooses to keep silent. No point yelling at a brick wall. 

She grips her upper arms and looks out of the window distractedly. An hour ago, she’d say she trusts Jiu with her life, given what the she has done for her. But now? She finally sees the truth in Gahyeon’s words.

Being both a Tremere and an Anarch, if Handong is to be believed, Jiu must have been heavily involved in the 'Project Alpha' incident. She also recalls Siyeon's words about how the Tremere are also known for creating zombies.

Sua has a bad feeling about Jiu, or how she and the rest are going to confront her about the letter, when she finds them, that is.

“This park, right?” Handong points with her left hand, her other hand on the steering wheel.

“Yup.” Sua confirms. 

“Alright.” says Handong as she pulls up along the side of the road. She unlocks the car doors with the press of a button.

Sua unbuckles her seatbelt and grabs her knapsack from the back seats. “Thanks a lot. Oh, I should pay you. For the petrol.” She fumbles for her wallet. Handong laughs softly.

“That won’t be necessary. Your place is on the way to mine, anyway. So it’s nothing.” she says as she holds up a hand to reject the money Sua is offering her. 

“No, I insist, please take it. It’ll make me feel better.” Sua pushes the money into Handong’s hand insistently. Handong, having no choice, accepts it reluctantly.

“Okay, if you say so, but really, it was no big deal.” she smiles warmly. 

Sua keeps her wallet in her knapsack and zips it shut.

“Again, thanks for driving me back. And saving me, never got to properly thank you for that,” she says as she opens the car door. “Maybe we’ll meet again someday.” 

“Stay safe on your way home!” reminds Handong as she waves Sua goodbye. 

The car door swings shut with a loud thud as Handong watches the brown haired girl walk into the night.

“And don’t worry… We’ll definitely be meeting again very soon… _Kim Bora_.”

* * *

Sua smacks her forehead in self-contempt. Back at Siyeon’s apartment building, in front of the unit, she finally remembers something. 

She doesn’t have the house keys. 

They keypad lock was no issue, but, she stares at the two padlocks on the metal grate door, and the lock on the wooden door that serves as the barrier between her and a functioning phone. 

_Siyeon is so gonna hate me for this…_ Sua says to herself as she pulls two familiar bobby pins out of her pocket.

About a few minutes later, Sua is now in the apartment, which has become much neater since she moved in. She puts the broken padlocks aside on the table and closes the wooden door. She runs to the socket and plugs her phone in.

The phone startup screen never took so long to play in her life. After her phone boots up, she is greeted, or rather, jumpscared by a rather scary amount of new messages, her notification ringtone going off like a tape recorder gone bananas. 

**Siyeon**

**(99+ unread messages)**

**[Y aren’t u answering] (1.54a.m)**

**[Where r u] (1.55a.m)**

**[It is not a crime to answer my messages] (1.57a.m)**

**[R u an idiot] (1.58a.m)**

**[OK wbk Sua is an idiot] (1.59a.m)**

**[IDIOT] (2.01a.m)**

**[Answer me!!!!] (2.02a.m)**

**[Is your phone dead??] (2.04a.m)**

**[Idiot] (2.07a.m)**

**[I] (2.09a.m)**

**[D] (2.10a.m)**

**[I] (2.10a.m)**

**[O] (2.10a.m)**

**[T] (2.10a.m)**

**(2.13a.m) [Did you just call me an idiot?! Brat!]**

**(2.13a.m) [Watch me throw your pillows out the window]**

**[?????!!!!!??!?!?!????????!] (2.13a.m)**

**[UR OK] (2.13a.m)**

Sua receives a phone call from Siyeon almost the instant she reads her latest message. 

“You’re okay?! Where are you now?!!” Siyeon’s loud, agitated voice blasts into Sua’s ears, so much so that Sua has to move the phone away from her ear for a moment to adjust the call volume.

“I’m fine, I’m at home now.” Sua assures Siyeon.

Siyeon pauses before shouting into the phone again, much to Sua’s ear’s demise. “ _At home_?! _What_ and _why_ and _how even_?!” 

“It’s a long story, I'll explain it later,” says Sua. “For now, where are you? And Gahyeon, of course.” 

Siyeon lets out a vocal sigh. “We’re at her place right now. I got pretty beaten up during our fight with those zombies, so I needed somewhere to rest.”

“Oh, I see… Are you okay now?” asks Sua worriedly.

“Yeah, I'm fine now. I’ll go tell Gahyeon that you’re safe. We’ll be back asap. From there, we’ll discuss how to confront Jiu about the letter.” 

“Alright.” says Sua. “Also… Siyeon?”

Gahyeon and Handong's words start reverberating in her mind. 

_Trust no one but yourself._

_Yes. The very Anarchs you are working with, surprised they aren't the hero angels they claim to be?_

“What is it? Speak to me, Sua.” Siyeon’s voice breaks her train of thought.

“O-oh. Uhm, you might want to buy some new padlocks on the way back. And maybe a new lock for your door.”

A brief silence follows. “Why?” 

“...No reason.” 

* * *

“Gahyeon!” Siyeon shouts from outside the room. Gahyeon jumps, startled by the sudden boom of noise.

“What is it?” Gahyeon shouts back. 

The room door flies open and Gahyeon swears if Siyeon exerted just a bit more strength the door hinges would have broke. “Sua’s safe. I don’t know how, but she’s back in Seoul.” 

Gahyeon raises her eyebrows. “For real?”

“Yes.” Siyeon nods. “So, we’re going back to Seoul, right now.” She tugs on Gahyeon’s arm.

“Hold it, _Speedy Gonzales_! We were here for barely an hour! If she's safe, can't we stay just a little bit longer?” complains Gahyeon, freeing herself from Siyeon’s grip. “I'm working on something here.”

Siyeon crosses her arms impatiently. “... On what?” 

She looks over the pink haired girl’s shoulders.

All sorts of sewing tools - scissors, needles, threads and all sorts of decorative clutter, like buttons and sequins, lay scattered on the table in a disorganised fashion. There is a sewing machine on the table.

In Gahyeon's hands is another one of those stuffed toys, like those outside her bedroom, in the living room. 

“…You… make _toys_?” Siyeon says, surprised.

“Yeah, I do. Why the big reaction, though?” says Gahyeon, who is focused on sewing a button on the toy’s face.

“I don’t know… From what you’ve said when we first met I expected you to make something crazier. You know, like those eccentric freak artists that people mistake for Malkavians*.” 

_(*Malkavian: A vampire clan. Due to their inherent clan weakness every last one of them is irredeemably insane in some form or another.)_

“Well… Teaches you to not judge a book by its cover, eh?” Gahyeon forces a laugh.

 _Cute_. _Siyeon probably doesn’t know what these dolls are made from. It’s best that she doesn’t, anyway._ Gahyeon hides a smirk.

“But then, why the intent to kill Mr. Kim?” questions Siyeon.

“We find that Diablerist you're looking for, and I'll tell you.” says Gahyeon, cryptic as usual. “Anyways, give me another five minutes, and we’ll be off.” she promises as she grabs a pair of scissors to cut off some excess string.

“... Fine. I’ll wait for you outside.” agrees Siyeon. “Oh yeah, and Gahyeon?”

“What is it?”

“Earlier, I talked to your ghoul… I guess I was wrong. Sorry for yelling at you earlier.” 

“It’s alright. You were frustrated.” 

Siyeon gives a nod and closes the door behind her. 

Gahyeon sews on two green buttons onto the doll’s face. The doll is a quiet looking Panda. Its ears, upper body and limbs are black, and the rest of it is white. It holds a green straw resembling a bamboo stick in its right paw. 

“Agh!” Gahyeon yelps as she accidentally pricks her finger with the needle. Vampiric blood drips from the wound down into the center of her palm.

She sucks on her sore finger, crinkling her eyebrows. She looks at the doll laying on the table.

“Why am I getting a bad feeling about you, today…” Gahyeon mutters to herself, a bad feeling stirring in her heart.

* * *

A blue haired girl look at the papers spread out across her metal desk. Maps, floor plans, photos and reports fill the shiny silver surface entirely. 

“I've finally found you. You sly fox.”

She grabs her fanny pack, safety vest, revolver, camera, as well as her katana. The katana is so long, it is almost two thirds of her height. The guard of the katana is intricately carved, while the the handle is an elegant shade of jade green.

When it comes to killing humans, most people would assume guns are the superior weapon. With vampires, however, it's very different. The impact of piercing holes in a dead body's non-functional organs is nothing compared to chopping an entire limb off their body.

“Heading out already, Dami?” her coworker notices her gearing up. 

“Yeah.” she slicks her hair back while she wears her boots.

“Good luck.” they throw a crucifix to Dami. She catches it skillfully and twirls it within her hand.

“Thanks.” she throws on her bomber jacket on and heads out the church doors.

* * *

Jiu gets down from her car. Her bodyguard turns off the engine and locks the doors. In front of her is an old, rundown shop lot building. She walks up to the metal gate guarding the stairs to the second floor. There is a small intercom next to a keypad. 

“Jiu here.” she speaks into the intercom.

After a brief moment, the electromagnets on the door unlocks. She ascends the stairs.

She enters an abandoned boutique. Mannequins, both intact and ‘crippled’, are left strewn everywhere on the dirty and dusty brown carpeted floor. The windows are as usual, all boarded up - typical of a Kindred hideout. There are many other Kindred hanging out in the area - some playing poker at the makeshift bar, others sleeping on the floor or playing video games on the barely functioning TV. Jiu walks past all of them to reach a red door at the end. 

“Kim Jiu?” the hulking bouncer asks Jiu in a menacing tone.

“Yes.” answers Jiu, unfazed.

The bouncer moves aside without a word. Jiu’s bodyguard opens the door for her and she enters. 

The room is a messy office. A few mirrors and paintings hang on the wall, but they are crooked. The desk is piled with mountains of paperwork and cardboard boxes.

“Jiu.” the handsome, young man sitting at the desks says as he raises his head. “Welcome back. Care for a cigarette?”

Jiu politely rejects the man’s offer in his extended hand, and the man merely keeps the cigarette pack back in his shirt pocket.

“I need your help.” Jiu says, sitting down on a couch next to the wall, one leg over the other. “ _She_ just Diablerized another one today. At this rate, we don't know how powerful she'll grow-”

“I know, and I’m always ready to help a fellow comrade out, Jiu. But you know, it depends on what it is.” the young man cuts Jiu off, a lit cigarette in his mouth. “Everyone’s got boundaries.” 

“In case you forgot, you owe me for saving your girlfriend’s ass from the Camarilla. ” Jiu leans back on the couch, arms folded.

The young man shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. “You broke my girlfriend out of there because you _yourself_ had someone there as well.”

“And now I want nothing to do with her anymore. She cost me everything, and now my Baroness position is on the line because of what happened.” 

“Sounds like you should just kill her, then.” the man raises an eyebrow meaningfully.

“I have a way of fixing this, without killing her. I just need you to back me during the next _conference_.” insists Jiu, her tone of voice serious. “Don’t we want to examine her? She was our only successful one after all...”

The man disagrees, unshaken. “It’s too risky. You know what happened with Subject Beta.” 

Jiu is on the verge of desperation. “Look, Yonggeun, I promise-”

“...I’m sorry Jiu. As I said before, it’s too risky. She needs to die.” the man states simply, ruffling his hand through his hair. “We simply cannot jeopardize the entire Anarch Movement just for your sake.” 

“But-” 

“This conversation is over. Again, I’m sorry. But please leave.”

Jiu bites her lip, conflicted, but ultimately exits without even saying a goodbye. The man shakes his head solemnly. 

“What a mess…” 

Her bodyguard holds the door for Jiu. She steps out of the building, disheartened, and makes her way back to the car.

“I’ve asked every Baron and Baroness possible… And none of them are willing to listen.” Jiu complains to her bodyguard, her face contorted with frustration and worry.

The temperature outside is bone chilling. Jiu pulls her scarf higher up to her nose. She walks through the empty parking lot, countless thoughts going through her mind as she weighs her available options.

Suddenly, she hears footsteps behind her.

In a flash, a shadowy figure sucker punches her bodyguard behind the skull, knocking her out cold. 

Jiu immediately summons her magic. Droplets of blood rise from her skin and float in her palm like spherical wisps. 

“Who is it?” she says. No response.

The figure moves at astonishing speed, a trail of blood red mist following her... 

_Can’t be a mortal,_ Jiu figures. 

All of a sudden, the figure materializes next to Jiu.

With amazing reflexes, Jiu narrowly dodges another punch from the mysterious attacker. She fires a few droplets of blood in retaliation. Unfortunately, the bullet-like projectiles just... _phase_ through the mist, carving small holes in a nearby car and lamp post behind them, the hard metal melting and sizzling away on contact with Jiu's corrosive blood. 

The attacker is wearing a black cloak and a mask, making it impossible for Jiu to identify them through physical sight. Using her supernatural senses, however, she feels a sense of familiarity, one she knows far too well.

The cloaked figure doesn’t give up, and proceeds to launch a flurry of attacks against Jiu. Jiu parries each fist and kick with a liquid shield made of blood, which freezes in a state similar to ice on impact. But the cloaked figure is simply too strong.

The blood shield does not last very long before it dissipates, and Jiu suffers a direct kick to the abdomen before a sharp jab to her neck, drawing blood from her lips. 

The figure yanks on Jiu’s scarf, strangling her before they fling her against a car. 

“Urgh!” Jiu feels a pang of pain travel throughout her back as she back collides with the solid hunk of metal. Her blood-stained scarf falls from her face and neck, onto the road.

At the sight of Jiu’s face, the figure suddenly freezes in place.

 _An opening._ Jiu notices and quickly casts a blade made of blood. She slashes at the attacker’s face, and their mask burns away in a bubbling, acidic mess.

The attacker's left eye is a shade of deep, blood red, but their right eye is the colour of shining amber. Silver wisps of hair escape from their damaged hood of their cloak. They immediately cover their face with their palm, staggering backwards.  
  
“You’re the Baroness now...?!” the figure mumbles under her breath, her voice as extremely familiar to Jiu’s ears...

“Yoohyeon?!” Jiu calls out desperately. “Yoohyeon, is that you?! Please, talk to me!”

However, without a word, the attacker merely dissociates into a cloud of blood red mist, dispersing into thin air, as if she was never there. 

“...Damn it.” Jiu utters helplessly, collapsed on the floor, holding her face in her hands.

* * *

**Recap**

- **Kindred** : Vampire.

  
-[NEW] **Ghoul** : Human minions that serve their master vampire. Very often treated as mere blood cattle or cannon fodder.  
  
  
=====================================================================

- **Generation** : The higher the generation, the thinner the blood in the vampire's body, thus the weaker the vampire.

  
- **Diablerie** : Vampire cannibalism. By draining and drinking all of the blood of one of their own kind they thicken their own blood, lowering their generation, making them stronger. Highly addictive.

  
-[UPDATED] **Thin Blood** : 14th and 15th generation Kindred. The vampire blood inside them is so thin, they lack the powers a Full Kindred has, but lack some of the weaknesses a full Kindred has as well. (e.g a Full Kindred cannot walk in sunlight. Thin Bloods can walk in dim sunlight unharmed). Can become a full Kindred by lowering their generation through Diablerie.

=====================================================================

- **The Beast** : The bloodthirsty inner predator inside every Kindred that fights for control.  
 _*Clan Gangrel (Siyeon's clan) are more closer to the Beast than any other clan. It is both their weakness and their strength._

=====================================================================

 **The three vampiric sects:**  
- **Camarilla** (traditionalists, old and very powerful, enforces the Masquerade) HANDONG

  
- **Anarchs** (young rebels that hate the old and powerful, respects the Masquerade) JIU, SUA, SIYEON

  
- **Sabbat** (violent vampire supremacists that hate the Masquerade) THE DIABLERIST 

===================================================================== 

- **The Masquerade** : Campaign to ensure the secret of the existence of vampires is kept from humans.

  
- **Independents** : Vampires that do not belong to any sect. GAHYEON

  
- **Prince** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.

  
- **Baron/Baroness** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Anarchs. JIU

=====================================================================

 **Characters:**  
-[UPDATED] **Jiu** : Anarchs, clan Tremere _(Vampires known for Blood Magic, gargoyles, zombies and the like.)_  
[Baroness. Wants to capture the Diablerist alive. She was once a Thin Blood under the Camarilla, but became a full Kindred through Diablerie, and is under the Anarchs instead of the Camarilla now. She was attacked by a mysterious cloaked figure who she believes to be 'Yoohyeon'.]

- **Sua** : Anarchs, clan Lasombra _(Vampires rarely seen in Seoul, known for Shadow Magic, cannot be seen in reflections, photos and videos.)_  
[Newly turned vampire. Currently under the strict supervision of Siyeon for unknown reasons. One of the very few Lasombra in Seoul. Helping Jiu and Siyeon to capture the Diablerist.]

-[UPDATED] **Siyeon** : Anarchs, clan Gangrel _(Vampires that that can shapeshift. Lone wolves. Closer to the Beast than any other clan, making them more animalistic and feral than other vampires.)_  
[Abandoned by her sire after her Embrace, but was saved by Jiu. Jiu's right hand woman. Extremely loyal to the Anarchs and Jiu. Hates the Camarilla. Shuns the Beast inside her. Can shapeshift into a powerful, wolf-like form.]

-[UPDATED] **Handong** : Camarilla, clan Ventrue _(Vampires that were nobles, elitists, rich and powerful people in life. Ruthless and ambitious, they control a big portion of the Camarilla.)_  
[Works for the Camarilla. Received orders from directly from the Prince. Saved Sua from the werewolf and brought her back to Seoul, but what were her true motives?]

-[NEW] **Yoohyeon** : ???, ???  
[Apparently attacked Jiu for unknown reasons.] 

-[NEW] **Dami** : ???, ???  
[???]

- **Gahyeon** : Independent, clan Toreador (Vampires obsessed with art and beauty. Very charming and sociable.)  
[Promised to help the Anarchs to capture the Diablerist. A rather old and experienced vampire. Sua's mentor. A rather eccentric artist. Seems to be more than what meets the eye, though...]

-[UPDATED] **The Diablerist** : Sabbat, ???  
[The Diablerist. True identity unknown. A mysterious serial killer that Diablerizes their victims. According to Handong, she is female, was once a Thin-Blood, was an experiment subject under 'Project Alpha', but was released by Jiu and the Anarchs before the project could be completed.]

-[UPDATED] **Seungyeon** : ???, clan Lasombra  
[Struck a deal with Jiu some time before Embracing Sua. Contents of the deal? Unknown.]

Twitter: @dcwolfieawoooo  
Feedback: https://curiouscat.me/ZWolf_


	4. Stitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One is sewn up while the other bursts at its seams.

* * *

_“This place kind of sucks, don’t you think so, Yoohyeon?” Jiu, dressed in a sleek black dress and heels, says to her brown haired girlfriend, Yoohyeon._

_Yoohyeon merely frowns and squeezes Jiu’s hand tighter._

_“I thought this place would be more... Fun. Turns out it’s kind of overrated,” she says as she looks at the practically dead crowd. This place needs a new DJ. Badly._

_“Yeah.” Jiu rests her cheek on her hand, sipping from her now almost empty cocktail glass._

_“...Sorry if you’re feeling kind of bored.” Yoohyeon says to Jiu apologetically._

_Jiu cracks a grin._

_“It doesn’t matter. As long as I’m with you, there’s not a single moment I feel bored.” she shifts her gaze onto Yoohyeon’s figure-hugging dress, smirking._

_Yoohyeon cocks an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Being with me is exciting?”_

_“Mmhm.” Jiu leans over to Yoohyeon’s ear and whispers, her hot breath blowing onto Yoohyeon’s bare skin. “Why not we ditch this dump and head somewhere else-”_

_Suddenly, a large BOOM can be heard from behind the stage. Smoke rises from the site of the explosion. Panic ensues as the crowd starts screaming and running._

_“What’s going on?!” yells Yoohyeon._

_They stand up from their booth and look below, past the railings. Chaos._

_“Whatever it is, I think we should leave, NOW !” Jiu yells back._

_Holding tight onto her girlfriend’s hand, the two dash from their private booth to the entrance, where they are greeted by a group of youngsters assaulting the bouncer, as well as a few other customers._

_The attackers are dressed in rags, their hair messy and their face dirty. They have baseball bats and crowbars in their hands, which they use brutally as weapons._

_One man, in particular, has their mouth latched onto the bouncer’s neck. Upon closer inspection, his teeth- no, **fangs** are sinked deep within the poor man’s flesh, blood flowing from the wound, all the way to his chest, dyeing his white shirt a deep scarlet red…_

_“Eeeeeek!” Yoohyeon screams, and Jiu immediately pulls on her girlfriend and dashes in the other direction, towards the back exit. The attackers give chase like a bunch of rabid animals._

_“The back entrance! It’s over there!” a fellow club-goer shouts from in front of the pair._

_Jiu quickly picks up the pace, dragging a panicking Yoohyeon along with her._

_Just as they were about to step out of the door, a menacing looking man drops down from the ceiling much like a spider, blocking their path._

_Jiu turns around, only to notice that they along with a few other people have been surrounded._

_“Attack!” The man in front of the back entrance orders, the sheer power behind his voice shaking Jiu to the very core._

_“Minji!” Yoohyeon cries out as a woman manages to push her onto the ground._

_Firmly grasping onto Yoohyeon’s hand, Jiu falls to the floor as well, overrun by the mob. She feels a biting sensation on her neck, her consciousness slowly fading away, fingers still intertwined with Yoohyeon’s..._

* * *

“What happened? Why were you unsuccessful?” 

“She wasn’t who I thought she was.” The silver-haired girl sits on a blood stained metal bucket, knitting her torn cloak. 

“The **Archbishop** won’t be pleased.” the young man says.

_( **Archbishop** : a title held by a Sabbat vampire who has claimed a domain as his own. With many of the same powers as a Camarilla Prince, the Archbishop is the closest thing the Sabbat has to that position.) _

“Then you can go tell him to go fuck himself.” flames of fury smolder in her odd eyes. She finishes working on her cloak and puts it on. “I only joined your ranks to achieve my own goals.”

“Hehe... he... What if I told you... That maybe your precious did not have a say into inheriting that position?” another young man snickers next to her, squatting on the floor.

“...What?” she snarls.

“Think about it, look at who she works with, the other Gangrel and the Lasombra _..._ ” he says, voice high pitched and his face crooked. “She took on the position to protect her people. They occupy her attention whilst you are stuck here, thinking of the next target to-”

Suddenly, the silver haired girl stands up. 

“Tell the archbishop I'm coming.” she says. Shrouding herself in red mist, the silver haired girl dissipates into thin air. 

“...That was easy.” 

The young man lets out a wicked laugh. “She's _nuts_. More far gone than any **Malkavian** I'd say.”

_( **Malkavian** : a vampire clan. Due to their clan weakness each and every one of them are irredeemably insane.)_

“You'd be equally as far gone if you were an experiment survivor like her.” the other man comments.

“Mm. Maybe.” he says, before sitting on the now vacant metal bucket, grinning widely. “Doesn't matter if you can get the job done, though.”

* * *

Handong parks her car on the roadside. She’s in the very center of Seoul. Skyscrapers surround her like a concrete jungle.

She walks into a tall, modern looking building.

 _The ivory tower._ The heart of the Camarilla in Seoul, center in the bustling district of Gangnam. Surrounded by large business corporations as well as ridiculously priced housing, the area practically has privilege and wealth written all over it - it is home to only the most elite, those at the very top of the food chain.

Past the transparent glass doors, the receptionist immediately recognises her.

“Miss Han. The Prince is expecting you.” she says, directing her to a room at the end of a hallway.

Handong gives a polite nod.

On the way to the room, she adjusts her hair and lipstick with a pocket mirror, takes a deep breath, before heading in.

The conference room is large and grand. A fancy chandelier hangs above the brightly lit room. The large conference table is decorated with red cloth and beautiful flower vases. Numerous high ranking Camarilla officials are seated in the room, staring and waiting for her.

Handong feels her mouth go dry. This is not the first time she's been in front of the The Prince and the Primogen council, but she still can't help but feel somewhat nervous.

Fifty-six years of being a Kindred, most would call her seasoned, experienced, old. But in front of these elders? She's nothing but a speck of dust.

Nothing but a pawn in the endless game of the Jyhad.

“Handong. I assume you’ve been successful in your mission?” the Prince says, sitting at the far end of the table, hands together, his sheriff standing next to him. 

“Yes. I have. The evidence is here with me.”

“Good. Keep it.”

“What? Why? Don’t you want to know its contents?” 

The Prince chuckles. 

“Oh, Handong. Do you think the Camarilla is not aware of her motives? We are all-knowing. There is not a single event that goes unnoticed from us in Seoul.”

Handong sees a elder sitting near to the Prince giving her a look. She makes a mental note of it before returning her attention to the Prince.

“I’m afraid I do not understand.” says Handong.

The Prince smiles. “Kim Jiu, formerly known as Kim Minji, was not only the head of project for Project Alpha, she was also the one responsible for the release of Subject Alpha.” he says. “The Anarchs do not yet know of this, except Jiu herself, of course.”

“So what do I need to do next?”

The Prince lets out a hearty chuckle. “Straight to business. I can admire that. For now, our main goal is to we expand our influence over the Anarchs, by discrediting their very well respected ex-Thin Blood Baroness, swaying more of their people to our side...” 

A vampire standing at the side of the room hands Handong a black case. 

“But I also have another task for you. One that will guarantee the Camarilla's chances of usurping the Anarch position in Seoul.” he says.

Handong opens the case carefully. Inside, is a rifle, but something is different from this rifle compared to the ones she has used before. Rather than a conventional ballistic firearm, this rifle resembles a tranquilizer gun. There is a single, long dart, equipped with a glass vial, filled with a thin amber liquid with red streaks...

* * *

After the meeting ended, Handong exits the room and lets out a relieved sigh. 

At the corner of her eye, she notices the same elder from before approaching her. Although he is smartly dressed like the rest, he has messy, long hair; more feral, animalistic looking than the rest of the vampires in the room just now. 

She puts her guard up and greets him. 

“Handong, I believe?” his voice is low and rough.

“Yes.” Handong gives a slight bow.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” he motions to the item she previously wanted to hand over to the Prince. 

Handong's brow rises a notch.

“What do you want me to do?” she asks.

The man passes a bone pendant in the shape of a claw to Handong, before whispering something into her ear. 

“Bring her to me. Show that to her and she will know.” he says, before smiling and walking away.

Handong stares at the trinket in her hand thoughtfully, before putting it away and leaving the building.

* * *

Sua and Gahyeon sit on the couch in the living room, listening to the late night radio while Siyeon is sitting on the floor near the apartment entrance, fixing the door. 

Siyeon is beyond grateful that the brown haired girl is safe and sound, and would even admit she missed her constant bickering - but to be greeted with a broken door the moment she got home wasn't exactly the most warmest of welcomes.

“Next time you want to break my door, maybe ask first?” says Siyeon, removing the new locks from the plastic packaging with a pair of scissors.

Sua sits up from her lying position, and gives Siyeon a look. “What did you expect me to do? Climb in through the window?”

Gahyeon looks up from her phone.

“Honestly, that would have been the preferable option if you ask me.” says Gahyeon.

“This apartment is 23 stories above ground!” whines Sua.

The hourly news starts playing on the radio.

_“A fight has broken out at a parking lot near...”_

_“The suspected gang members involved were no longer at the scene when the police arrived. Neighbors complained about noise...”_

“Seems like no where's safe nowadays.” comments Sua. 

“Indeed. The nights have been getting more and more treacherous these few years, even for us vampires.” says Gahyeon.

Siyeon hums in agreement. “Especially since the nightclub Mass Embrace incident.” 

“What nightclub incident?” asks Sua.

“Many, many years ago, the Sabbat attacked a nightclub event. They Embraced over a hundred humans. In. One. Night. That's almost the number of ALL of us vampires here in Seoul.” explains Gahyeon. 

“So our numbers doubled overnight.” says Sua.

“That's right. And as we all know, for every new Kindred spawned, is yet another competitor.” adds Siyeon, who finishes installing the last screw on the lock.

Siyeon’s phone starts ringing on the kitchen counter. Siyeon stands up and goes to get her phone. 

“It’s Jiu.” she tells the rest. Sua turns the radio off.

“Siyeon? You called me?” Jiu’s familiar voice emanates from the phone speaker. She sounds a little exhausted. “Sorry I missed your calls. I ran into some… trouble.”

“It’s alright. But I need to talk to you asap. It’s about something we found at the old chantry.” says Siyeon, finishing up the lock she’s installing.

A small period of silence ensues.

“Jiu?” Siyeon furrows her brows, leaning on one leg.

“Oh, sorry.” says Jiu. “I’m currently outstation. Whatever it is, you’ll just have to wait until I get back tomorrow.”

“You didn’t mention anything about going outstation recently. You said you just had errands to run nearby.” 

“It… sort of came up last minute.” 

Siyeon puts a hand on the kitchen counter uncomfortably.

“… Well, then tell us where you are and we’ll come to you. It’s really urgent.” Siyeon says as she paces around the room. Sua and Gahyeon look at one another, Gahyeon shakes her head subtly.

“I…” Jiu pauses for a moment, before agreeing. “Sure. I’ll meet you at a safehouse. I’ll text you the location.”

“Okay. See you there.” Siyeon says before hanging up. 

“Call me paranoid, but that was kind of _sus_.” utters Sua under her breath to Gahyeon, being careful not to let Siyeon hear her words. 

Gahyeon nods in agreement. “You don’t say…” 

“Alright, pack up, team. You heard me. We’re going to meet Jiu.” announces Siyeon as she picks up her bag and jacket from the rack nearby. 

Gahyeon gets up and heads out the door. Sua follows, but is stopped halfway by Siyeon at the doorway. She hands Sua a ring of car keys. 

Sua tilts her head in confusion.

“You drive.” says Siyeon.

“What? Why me? It’s your car!” groans Sua annoyedly.

“... _Jiu_ ’s car actually. I have a license, but usually the others drive me around,” the blonde haired girl says, dangling the keys in between her fingertips, not a silver of shame on her face. “Last time I drove a car was like, 2 years ago.” 

“I am not surprised.” Sua grumbles, leaning on the wall. “You’re so spoiled, you know that, Lee Siyeon?”

“I saw your driving license in your wallet. You can drive.” Siyeon says, ignoring Sua’s comments.

Sua folds her arms, exasperated. She tells herself that she needs to stop giving into the demands of this child. 

“...Fine. Just don’t blame me when I run into a tree or something.” She accepts the keys reluctantly.

“Oh, don’t worry. In that case, I’ll just spill blood on the white carpet again and you’ll have to clean it again.” 

“Only if you dare, you brat.” hisses Sua, who manages to look about as threatening as a small bird. 

Siyeon sticks a tongue out in response and runs out of the apartment door before Sua can shove the keys back to her.

* * *

“Holy shit, Sua! Chill out!” cries Gahyeon while clutching onto the shoulders of the two front seats tightly. 

“Relax! The roads are totally empty. Besides, did you forget about the whole super fast reflexes thing? We’ll be fine.” dismisses Sua.

“If I were still alive, I might have just suffered 6 heart attacks. At the same time.” Siyeon, who is riding shotgun, holds onto her seat just as tightly. 

“Aaaaargh!!! I did _not_ teach you **Bloodbuff** for you to speed on the road!!” laments Gahyeon, as the car speeds up yet again as the road goes uphill. 

_( **Bloodbuff** \- Through the expenditure of blood, this universal discipline owned by all vampires gives the vampire a temporary boost to their physical abilities when used.)_

It’s going to be a long ride.

* * *

After about half an hour, the trio reach their destination.

“That was reckless,” says Siyeon, dazed, as she retrieves her belongings from the bonnet of the car. “I volunteer to drive us back later.”

“Hey. We’re an hour early, and we’re safe. Give me some credit.” boasts Sua.

Gahyeon and Siyeon glance at each other, shake their heads, and collectively decide to ignore the short brown haired girl.

“What? Wait up!” Sua grabs her knapsack before catching up to the other two. 

The safehouse is an old, run down building. It’s half finished, but its dilapidated exterior suggests that it has been abandoned. The upper floors were never finished, the bare concrete pillars left unpainted and left exposed to sun and rain, a rotting skeleton compared to the already finished lower floors, which are fitted with glass and a metal exterior. 

Siyeon unlocks the wire gate surrounding the building with a key. They enter the building compounds.

Surprisingly, the elevator buttons are still lit up. It looks like the elevator is still functioning. Sua is relieved. She isn’t about to go on another leg day after the werewolf incident, although she thinks that might have been good training. She hasn't ran that much since high school.

“Which floor?” Gahyeon questions as she examines the myriad of buttons in front of her. 

“39th.” replies Siyeon.

Gahyeon presses the corresponding button, and the elevator starts ascending upwards with a loud _thunk_.

Sua chews on her lower lip anxiously.

“Have you figured out how you’re going to confront Jiu about it?” she turns to face Siyeon. As usual, Siyeon doesn’t look at her.

“I don’t know… I just never would have thought she’d keep something as big as this from me.” says Siyeon.

“What exactly _were_ you told, Siyeon?” asks Gahyeon, holding her hands together as she leans on the elevator wall. “About The Diablerist.”

“I was told that the Camarilla are responsible for a freak experiment involving Thin Bloods, The Diablerist being one of them.” she recalls, a hand on her chin thoughtfully. “One day, they somehow managed to escape, probably because of the Camarilla’s incompetence, of course. Then they went on their Diablerie spree.”

“The Camarilla were the ones responsible for the experiment, as well as their release?” Sua can’t help but blurt out. She remembers Handong’s version of the story…

_“You see, this ‘killer’ was once a Thin-Blood, but now, she is no ordinary Kindred. She's a dangerous specimen some... Tremeres were experimenting on. They named the undertaking ‘Project Alpha’. They tried to make a Thin-Blood and Kindred Hybrid,”.._

_...“Not only did it not work, when the damned Anarchs decided to release her and other experimental subjects before the project could be finished all in the name of ‘freedom’, they released the very killer that you were looking for today.”_

_“Wait. The… Anarchs were the ones who set her free?!”_

_“Yes. The very Anarchs you are working with, surprised they aren't the hero angels they claim to be?”_

Siyeon eyes Sua with a weird look. “Yeah. What?”

“Oh, nothing. From what you said, I knew the Camarilla were incompetent, but not to this extent.” Sua is babbling, and lucky for her, Siyeon is dense enough to not catch onto her bluff; although Gahyeon on the other hand does indeed notice that something is off, but keeps her mouth shut. She just blinks at Sua knowingly.

Sua can’t possibly tell Siyeon that a Kindred of the Camarilla told her a different story. She hasn’t even explained to her how she made it back to Seoul - she’s been trying really hard to keep that topic at bay.

All of a sudden, the elevator screeches to a complete halt. The lights go out, and the whirring noise of the ventilation fans quiet down. 

“...What happened?” 

Sua can’t tell whose voice it was in the sudden darkness. She uses her phone as a flashlight.

“Wait, let me see if I can get the doors to open.” Siyeon says. She claws onto the gap between the two sides of the elevator door and starts to pull them apart. With immense effort, the door starts to gradually open, just a little bit. 

“Here, let me show you how it's done.” Sua rolls up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. She activates her vampiric powers, drawing power from the blood sitting within her body. She ducks underneath Siyeon's arms, and pries the elevator doors wide apart without much effort.

“Ha. I bet you wished you had **Potence** now-” 

_( **Potence:** Discipline that endows vampires with physical vigor and preternatural strength.)_

Turning around, Sua realises she's face to face with Siyeon. She looks into Siyeon's faintly gray eyes, their noses almost touching. She can smell the perfume on Siyeon's neck - hints of citrus and wood.

“U-uh.” stammers Sua.

Both girls immediately recoil backwards in shock, embarrassed. 

“...Shall we get a move on?” coughs Gahyeon, pretending as if nothing happened.

“Yes. Without haste.” says Siyeon.

The three exit the dysfunctional elevator. Gahyeon first, followed by Sua, then Siyeon.

According to the metal sign on the wall, they are currently only on the 8th floor. The floor is rather well furnished for a abandoned building - it is complete with office desks, dividers and chairs, as well as decorative elements like plants and paintings.

Siyeon scans the area. “Hm. I’ve never seen the other floors before. This is interesting.” 

“Oh, things will get interesting, alright.” a voice emerges from the other end of the spacious room, startling the three.

A figure reveals herself from the shadows of the room. She is skinny and of average height, her long, flowy hair dyed a turquoise blue. She wears an sleek, black bomber jacket over a plain gray shirt, as well as black leather pants and combat boots. She has a fanny pack slung over her narrow shoulders.

Sua can tell that the girl is no Kindred. She can see the subtle rise and fall of her shoulders, indicating breathing, _life_. She nudges Siyeon discreetly. Siyeon grunts in acknowledgement, her look telling Sua to stay still and not move.

The human slowly pulls out a jade green katana from its sheath on her back.

Gahyeon stands quietly behind the other two without a word. She takes a few silent steps backwards.

“End of the line, vampires.” A group of men and women, all similarly armed with crossbows, swords and clubs, come out of hiding behind the office furniture. A man lights his wooden stake on fire with a lighter, making the vampires flinch.

_(*All vampires have a innate weakness and fear for fire. Something as simple as lighting a cigarette may make those that are more faint hearted flinch, while a flaming crossbow or stake would scare some vampires, while being trapped in a burning building is enough to scare even the bravest of vampires. Damage caused by fire cannot be healed as quickly as normal wounds like a slash wound from a knife.)_

“Shit… Hunters.” Siyeon says in a hushed tone. 

“We were set up.” Sua whispers.

Siyeon lets out a small 'tsk'. “Gahyeon, you don't happen to be able to Presence them into... Gahyeon?”

Siyeon looks behind her to check on Gahyeon, but the pink haired girl is not there. Instead, she is at the door of the emergency staircase.

“What are you doing?!” Siyeon looks at the Toreador, whose hands are already on the doorknob.

“Sorry, but I’ve got to save myself…!” Gahyeon says, her eyes meeting Siyeon’s briefly before opening the door and making a run for it. 

“Get ‘em!” orders the blue haired girl, pointing the sharp end of her sword at Siyeon. The other hunters begin to commence their attack.

Quickly, Sua and Siyeon make a dash for the emergency door. Siyeon tries to turn the doorknob, only to notice it has been jammed from the other side.

“Damn it, Gahyeon!” curses Siyeon, shoving a hard shoulder to the door, but to no avail. 

“We can take them!” Sua says, pulling her knife out, preparing to strike.

“Wait! Do _not_ use obvious disciplines in front of them! They have cameras!” hushes Siyeon urgently. “Remember what I told you! The Masquerade!”

A hunter comes charging at the two with a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire. The two jump out of the way, and the hunter strikes against an office table, breaking it into half. 

Bullets fire at Siyeon, but a majority of the bullets miss their target, and those that do not fail to penetrate Siyeon's toughened skin. Siyeon rushes up to the hunter, knocks the handgun out of his hand, before pushing him to the ground and pummeling him with heavy punches straight to the face.

She gets up and notices another hunter next to her. She parries a slashing attack from the attacker with her bare arm, shattering his sword into chunks of cheap metal. 

“You've got to try harder than that, buddy.” she smirks.

She kicks the hunter square in the chest, before finishing him off by crashing his head mercilessly into a pillar, creating a bloody mess of brain and bone on the gray concrete surface.

Meanwhile, two hunters make a rush for Sua. Sua dodges the first hunter’s sword with her unmatched reflexes, before slashing him behind the neck with practiced precision, lacerating him. The second hunter sees this and cowers in fear. Sua easily gets rid of her with a swift stab to the chest, the smell of fresh blood in the dusty air invigorating her.

Yet more hunters come out of the rooms in the office. The katana-wielding human decides to take things into her own hands. The blue haired girl targets Sua, who is already distracted by a few other other hunters. She raises her sword in preparation for an attack. 

“Watch out!” yells Siyeon. The Gangrel ignores her attackers, ignoring them and makes a straight beeline for her companion. She blocks the sword with a baseball bat she looted from a dead hunter, the sharp blade steadily slicing its way through the thick wood.

“Siyeon!” Sua notices the blonde haired girl behind her, but is too preoccupied with the hunters engaged in a fight with her. 

The baseball breaks and the blue haired girl attempts to make another slashing attack at Siyeon. Siyeon fails to react in time and suffers a deep cut on her left shoulder before she manages to roll to the side. The wound festers and sizzles, making the Gangrel cry out in pain. The weapon in that human's hand is no ordinary katana. 

She narrowly avoids a follow-up strike from the relentless vampire hunter. The katana is so sharp, it manages to cleanly cut through a plastic chair. 

Sua panics as she frantically sidesteps yet another crossbow bolt. She grabs a sturdy looking sword from the floor, abandoning her smaller combat knife.

“I'm sorry!” she says as she jams the weapon into the chest of the hunter mercilessly, yanking it out and letting the body fall limp, blood spilling on the floor.

At the same time, Siyeon is getting overwhelmed. Multiple hunters surround her, leaving her no room to maneuver. Siyeon manages to shrug off the slashes from the swords easily, but one manages to burn her with a flaming stake, and when she’s left vulnerable, the girl with the katana drives her weapon straight through Siyeon’s abdomen.

“Argh!” the blonde haired girl cries out in pain, and the blue haired girl pulls out her weapon. She falls to her knees, and onto the floor. 

“No! Siyeon!” Sua shouts in a state of desperation. It feels like time stopped around her, and her attention is only focused on Siyeon lying motionless on the floor. 

Rage, guilt, horror - Sua can’t even comprehend her emotions anymore as pure fight or flight instincts start to dominate her mind, blinding her to her surroundings.

 _Admit it._ _You need my help._

“...”

_Don’t run from me. You are both going to die if you let this go on._

_“No.”_

_...Your choice._

_“I’m not running. But I’m not letting you do whatever you want either.”_

The shadows in the room start to move on its own - distorting itself, moving like waves. It grows larger and larger, eventually swallowing the entire room in impenetrable darkness.

Without warning, the other hunters around the blue haired girl start _suffocating_. They hold onto their throats as an invisible force strangles the life force out of their weak, measly mortal bodies.

Suddenly, the shadows solidifies in the form of a black chain, rising from the ground, wrapping itself around the vampire hunter's calves.

The blue haired girl looks in both horror and shock.

The hunter strains her leg muscles, but they refuse to budge. The chains have them firmly anchored to the ground.

“Let me go!” she yells, failing to conceal the fear in her trembling voice.

Sua, irises black against the white of her sclera, bares her fangs at her. Sua can feel it - the power churning within her, hungry for destruction, thirsty for blood, and rather than resisting it, she rides the wave. She walks up to the blue haired girl slowly, each step instilling more and more dread into the hunter’s mind.

“What is your name?” Sua questions with an aggressive sense of authority, her face mere inches away from the blue haired girl’s. 

The blue haired girl is trying to keep her mouth shut, but Sua’s overwhelming dominance is making it difficult for her to maintain her composure. She finally mumbles an answer, although extremely unwillingly.

“…Da…mi.” she says, clenching her jaw.

“Dami. Who told you to attack us?”

Dami flinches at Sua’s terrifying voice.

“No one. In fact, my original target was not even you two, but I kill every vampire I come across.” she mumbles.

Sua grapples Dami’s neck with her bare hand.

“Then tell me, who were you originally planning to kill?” Sua asks threateningly, her voice unnaturally deep and gnarly.

Dami spits in Sua's face. “Doesn't… Matter… I've caught you on tape. Once this gets into the hands of-”

Sua grabs the camera attached to Dami's fanny pack. It's a camera. She holds it in the center of her palm, and crushes it with her bare hands, before throwing the hunk of technology on the ground.

“Other hunters have cameras too.”

Sua snorts. “Too bad for you, I do not show up on cameras.” 

“Sua…?” Siyeon’s voice emanates weakly behind Sua. 

The Lasombra swings her head back, the black in her eyes starting to disappear. 

The blonde haired girl, heavily wounded, lays barely conscious in a pool of her own blood.

Immediately, Sua rushes to Siyeon’s side without hesitation. The cold, unrecognisable side of Sua subsides as she holds Siyeon’s other shoulder and examines the other girl’s wounds. 

The gash on Siyeon’s shoulder runs from her upper arm to above her collarbone. The stab wound has healed slightly, the gaping cavity no longer visible, but it is obvious she still lost a huge amount of blood, her white shirt drenched in her own vampiric vitae. 

“Are you okay?” Sua asks worriedly.

Siyeon coughs, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth as she gives a short, raspy laugh. “Yeah. But I’ve been better.”

Sua knits her eyebrows in frustration. “Why in the world are you laughing, you idiot?! We need to-”

The both of them jump as they hear a loud crash. Somehow, the blue haired girl managed to break free of her restraints. Siyeon immediately grabs onto Sua’s hand and leads her away, Dami hot on their heels. 

“This is our only chance! We’ve got to run for it!” she urges as they sprint to the opposite side of the building, away from the lifts.

“But there’s nowhere else to go!” cries Sua as approach a dead end - a wall of glass windows.

“There’s nowhere for someone with a rational mind to go… But you know that I’m batshit crazy since you met me, Sua.”

Before Sua can react, Siyeon breaks a large window with the blunt end of a sword, shattering it into a million glass shards. Behind them, Dami is steadily catching up to them. She scoops Sua into her arms. 

“What the _fuck_ do you think you’re doing?!” Sua flails against Siyeon, but Siyeon holds on tight. 

“Saving our asses!” Siyeon shouts.

She grabs onto the girl in her arms as firmly as she can, before making a leap out of the broken window. 

* * *

**Recap**

- **Kindred** : Vampire.  
  
- **Ghoul** : Human minions that serve their master vampire. Very often treated as mere blood cattle or cannon fodder.

=================================================================

- **Generation** : The higher the generation, the thinner the blood in the vampire's body, thus the weaker the vampire.  
  
- **Diablerie** : Vampire cannibalism. By draining and drinking all of the blood of one of their own kind they thicken their own blood, lowering their generation, making them stronger. Highly addictive.  
  
- **Thin Blood** : 14th and 15th generation Kindred. The vampire blood inside them is so thin, they lack the powers a Full Kindred has, but lack some of the weaknesses a full Kindred has as well. (e.g a Full Kindred cannot walk in sunlight. Thin Bloods can walk in dim sunlight unharmed). Can become a full Kindred by lowering their generation through Diablerie.

=================================================================

- **The Beast** : The bloodthirsty inner predator inside every Kindred that fights for control.  
 _*Clan Gangrel (Siyeon's clan) are more closer to the Beast than any other clan. It is both their weakness and their strength._

=================================================================

The three vampiric sects:  
  
- **Camarilla** (traditionalists, old and very powerful, enforces the Masquerade) HANDONG  
  
- **Anarchs** (young rebels that hate the old and powerful, respects the Masquerade) JIU, SUA, SIYEON  
  
- **Sabbat** (violent vampire supremacists that hate the Masquerade) THE DIABLERIST

=================================================================

- **The Masquerade** : Campaign to ensure the secret of the existence of vampires is kept from humans.  
  
- **Independents** : Vampires that do not belong to any sect. GAHYEON  
  
- **Prince** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.  
  
- **Baron/Baroness** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Anarchs. JIU

=================================================================

Characters:  
  
-[UPDATED] **Jiu** : Anarchs, clan Tremere _(Vampires known for Blood Magic, gargoyles, zombies and the like.)_  
[Baroness. Wants to capture the Diablerist alive. She was once a Thin Blood under the Camarilla, but became a full Kindred through Diablerie, and is under the Anarchs instead of the Camarilla now. Attacked by 'Yoohyeon'. Promised to meet the three at the safehouse.]

- **Sua** : Anarchs, clan Lasombra _(Vampires rarely seen in Seoul, known for Shadow Magic, cannot be seen in reflections, photos and videos.)_  
[Newly turned vampire. Currently under the strict supervision of Siyeon for unknown reasons. One of the very few Lasombra in Seoul. Helping Jiu and Siyeon to capture the Diablerist.]

- **Siyeon** : Anarchs, clan Gangrel _(Vampires that that can shapeshift. Lone wolves. Closer to the Beast than any other clan, making them more animalistic and feral than other vampires.)_  
[Abandoned by her sire after her Embrace, but was saved by Jiu. Jiu's right hand woman. Extremely loyal to the Anarchs and Jiu. Hates the Camarilla. Shuns the Beast inside her. Can shapeshift into a powerful, wolf-like form.]

-[UPDATED] **Handong** : Camarilla, clan Ventrue _(Vampires that were nobles, elitists, rich and powerful people in life. Ruthless and ambitious, they control a big portion of the Camarilla.)_  
[Works for the Camarilla. Received orders from directly from the Prince. Saved Sua from the werewolf and brought her back to Seoul. Upon returning with the 'evidence' to the Prince, she is entrusted with a rifle containing amber fluid, as well as a task from a mysterious Kindred in the Camarilla.]

-[UPDATED] **Kim Yoohyeon** : ???, ???  
[Knew Jiu before they were Embraced together during a Sabbat attack. Apparently attacked Jiu for unknown reasons.]

-[UPDATED] **Lee Dami** : Vampire Hunters, human  
[A relentless vampire hunter with a deep hatred for vampires. Ambushed Sua, Siyeon and Gahyeon at the safehouse.]

-[UPDATED] **Gahyeon** : Independent, clan Toreador _(Vampires obsessed with art and beauty. Very charming and sociable.)_  
[Promised to help the Anarchs to capture the Diablerist. A rather old and experienced vampire. Sua's mentor. A rather eccentric artist. Abandoned Sua and Siyeon when they were attacked by Dami and other vampire hunters at the safehouse.]

-[UPDATED] **The Diablerist** : Sabbat, ???  
[The Diablerist. True identity unknown. A mysterious serial killer that Diablerizes their victims. According to Handong, she is female, was once a Thin-Blood, was an experiment subject under Tremere project 'Project Alpha', but was released by Jiu and the Anarchs before the project could be completed. But according to Siyeon, the project is Camarilla, and the Camarilla released her.]  
  


Twitter: @dcwolfieawoooo  
  
Feedback: https://curiouscat.me/ZWolf_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!
> 
> Because at this point most of the basics of the story is pretty much covered (readers can now get a grasp of the story without feeling too lost), from this chapter onwards, new chapters will be only be updated on a weekly basis, every sunday at ~6PM MYT instead of daily like before.
> 
> So don't worry, I'm not abandoning this fic or anything! This is my child I would never haha. 
> 
> Also, thank you for reading my fic! See you on the next update ^^
> 
> -the author, 2/12/2020


	5. Deja Vu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: 7/12/2020 - fixed a few grammar mistakes and inconsistencies

* * *

_“You awake?” Yoohyeon shakes Jiu awake. Jiu rubs her eyes and slowly regains her consciousness._

_The digital clock on the end table reads 2:41a.m. Jiu has definitely overslept._

_“Yeah. Did you manage to get the blood?” Jiu asks, unconsciously licking her lips._

_“Mmhm. It's in the fridge. I think the butcher is starting to recognise me already.” laughs Yoohyeon._

_Jiu pecks Yoohyeon’s cheek affectionately before getting up from the bed, and heading for the small kitchen._

_The room they're renting is extremely cramped and equipped with all but the most basic of appliances, but it is all they can afford._

_After being Embraced, Yoohyeon managed to get an online editing job, while Jiu is unemployed._

_This is largely due to the fact that Yoohyeon, unlike Jiu, can actually wake up during the day. She can even head out unharmed in the evenings or dawn, when the sun is not completely out, whereas Jiu on the other hand can't even stay conscious outside the hours of the night. Even if she tried to walk outside during the day, she most probably die, just like other Kindred._

_The other older, more experienced Thin Bloods call Yoohyeon's condition "Thin Blood Syndrome"._

_Despite the name, not all Thin Bloods suffer from Thin Blood Syndrome._

_Only half of the Kindred of the 14th generation, whilst all of the Kindred 15th generation suffer from it. Jiu happens to be one of the few lucky, or unlucky ones unaffected._

_Some view those afflicted with Thin Blood Syndrome as abominations that need to be eradicated. False Kindred that tarnish the name of the race. Pests in the Kindred society that serve little purpose outside of being cannon fodder or servants._

_However, there are, of course, those that believe the Thin Bloods are Kindred's way of evolving and adapting to the modern world, where technology has made concealing secrets even more harder than ever._

_Whatever it is, Jiu doesn't agree with either. Being a vampire is a curse, Thin Blood or not. One just makes it sound better than the other._

_Jiu opens the fridge and grabs the plastic bottle of red liquid. She unscrews the bottle cap, and drinks it-_

_CRASH!_

_The sound of glass shattering can be heard coming from the bedroom. Jiu closes the bottle and tiptoes into the living room. Peeking inside, she sees a man, with a sword on his back. There is a shattered window behind him._

_“Shit.” Jiu says under her breath, backing up._

_She can see Yoohyeon emerging from the toilet with a metal pipe, sneaking up behind him._

_Suddenly, she smashes the man's skull as hard as she can with her weapon. She makes a leap out of the broken window._

_Seizing the opportunity, Jiu runs past the disoriented man, and follows Yoohyeon out of the window, outside the flat. They tumble into a bush and start booking it, away from their accommodation._

_“Was he a hunter?!” asks Yoohyeon frantically._

_“No. He’s a Kindred!” says Jiu, eyes darting around her surroundings as she evaluates the best route. “It’s one of those Camarilla assholes again…!”_

_Yoohyeon and Jiu run for their unlives on the dark street. Jiu hears many footsteps behind her. They were chasing them._

_“They’re going to catch up to us.” Yoohyeon says, tears in her eyes._

_“Don’t say that. Just keep running.” urges Jiu. She can barely feel her legs anymore._

_The two reach a dead end._

_“Come on. I’ll boost you up. Yoohyeon stops next to the wall. Jiu climbs onto Yoohyeon’s hands and maneuvers herself up the tall wall. Jiu extends her hand to grab Yoohyeon._

_But just as Yoohyeon almost makes her way up, a vampire manages to grab ahold of her leg._

_“Ah!” Yoohyeon cries, grasping onto Jiu’s hand._

_“Argh!” Jiu grunts, exerting as much strength as she can possibly spare. “I’ve got you!”_

_But the force pulling Yoohyeon away is getting stronger, and stronger. Jiu can feel her love slowly but surely slipping away from her._

_Yoohyeon looks at Jiu, looking hopeless for the first time. There are vampires starting to make their way up the wall._

_“It’s no use, Minji, run.” she says weakly. “Before they get you.”_

_“No! I’m not letting you go!” Jiu says desperately, tears falling down her cheeks._

_Yoohyeon knits her brows, frowning. She lets go of Jiu’s hand, and Jiu thought she saw her mouth a last “I love you” before falling, but quickly realises that she needs to run, else she would suffer the same fate…_

* * *

The two girls plummet from the tall building. Sua can feel the rushing air suffocating her, her mind going completely blank.

Siyeon hugs Sua tight, positioning herself below her. 

Luckily, they drop into a large tree, the lush tree leaves and branches cushioning their fall. They land on the soft, feathery grass, and Siyeon finally releases Sua from her grasp, tumbling a few meters further away from her.

On impact with the ground, Sua feels her bones move in a way they shouldn’t. Instinctively, she hisses in pain. The burning sensation throughout her body, particularly her ribs, is excruciating, but could probably be much worse if Siyeon hadn’t absorbed most of the shock from the fall for her.

A red trail of blood is seen where Siyeon's body had rolled over during the fall. Vampire blood does not flow freely like human blood. It is dead, and coagulates upon prolonged contact with air. Deeply concerned, she limps over her friend.

Siyeon looks gravely injured. Her exposed limbs are all covered in bloody wounds. She’s also currently unconscious. Not good.

“Siyeon?'' 

She shakes Siyeon’s shoulder as gently as she can in an attempt to awaken her.

She doesn’t respond. Sua knits her brows and decides to try again. 

“Siyeon? Are you okay?” Sua repeats, despite knowing that the blonde haired girl is clearly not okay. She’s knocked out cold. She’s not dead - just unconscious.

Sua has been relying on Siyeon all this time, so right now she is left extremely puzzled on what to do. 

The elevator’s out of order, and she doesn’t know if she should call Jiu or not, in case she’s somehow… linked to the attack. Telling her that they survived an ambush she might have set up isn’t exactly the smartest idea. 

She can’t just leave Siyeon and herself out in the open like this either. 

For now, she thinks that she should probably move Siyeon to their car, where they will be safer. She needs to get Siyeon some blood, as well as get as far from those hunters as possible. 

Currently, it’s difficult for her to even walk. Biting her lip, she snaps her bones back into their right positions, or at least, where she thinks are the right positions. The sickening noise of her very bones cracking disgusts even herself.

After feeling slightly better, she carries Siyeon over her back. Surprisingly, despite being dead weight, Sua could carry Siyeon without much effort. Siyeon is rather skinny, even though she is very strong. 

Sua puts Siyeon in the front passenger seat, and gets in the driver’s seat before locking the door. She looks around her surroundings cautiously - no sign of the vampire hunters. She puts her hand on the driver’s wheel, but doesn’t know where to go... 

Not knowing what else to do, Sua decides to just drive. Anywhere else is better than staying here. 

The journey is quiet. Siyeon rests soundly in the seat next to Sua, and Sua might just admit she feels a little less safe without Siyeon’s vigilant eyes keeping a lookout. She doesn’t think they were followed, but tries to keep a low profile by driving at a slower speed.

After driving some distance away, Sua parks behind a row of bars and nightclubs, where the quiet streets are almost pitch black, a large contrast to the loud pumping music and neon lights on the other side. She looks around for any potential passerbys. 

Carefully, she reaches into her knapsack and finds the blood pack Handong gave her previously. It’s unopened, and the blood inside still seems relatively fresh. 

She tears a small opening in the bag, and with one hand on Siyeon’s cheek and another holding the blood bag, she starts feeding the red liquid to the unconscious girl.

After a few small gulps, Siyeon twitches a little. Snapping and crunching sounds can be heard as the bones in her body reset supernaturally. Scratches and bruises on her exposed arms start fading away. Her half attached left arm knits itself back to the shoulder blade. Her shirt is still ruined, though.

Sua stops momentarily, quietly observing the curious sight before her, before feeding the rest of the blood remaining to Siyeon. 

Siyeon’s eyes snap open, and she awakens with a gasp. 

“Sua?!” she cries, before calming down when she sees the brown haired girl next to her. “Oh, you’re okay.”

“Yeah, but what I’m more concerned about right now is if _you’re_ okay.” says Sua, frowning.

Not only does Siyeon feel extremely hungry, she feels like every single pain receptor in her body are going off all at the once. Not exactly the best way to rise.

“Honestly, I feel like shit. What happened?” Siyeon looks at the car seat. It’s stained red with her blood. Yikes. Jiu is surely going to have her head for this.

“You were knocked out when we hit the ground, so I drove us away to a safer place and fed you some blood.” 

Siyeon notices the empty blood bag in Sua’s hands. She snatches it and inspects it. 

The label indicates this blood bag is no ordinary blood bag. There are cheap blood bags most common Kindred can afford, and more expensive ones that are more high quality and extracted only from a specific demographic of humans. 

“Where did you even get this? These are hard to come by, and pricey.” 

“I found it in the TV room, near the 3rd floor, next to the file cabinets. I think it belonged to one of the guys.” Sua lies, the thought of Handong and the Camarilla shoved deep into the depths of her mind. 

She’s gotten better at lying - although she doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

“Ah, fine, whatever.” Siyeon isn't concerned about the blood bag. She’s got bigger fish to fry. “Where are we now? Where’s that hunter?” 

“We’re... somewhere far from the safehouse,” says Sua. “And as for her, she’s... gone for now. Doesn’t seem like she followed us.” 

Siyeon leans back in her seat, relieved. “Okay. Good.”

She turns her back, reaches for the back seats, and grabs a crumpled singlet from the cluttered mess in a cardboard box. Then, she starts removing her shirt. 

Sua, surprised, almost screams. 

”What are you doing?!“

Siyeon pauses and faces Sua. 

“Changing out of my shirt?” says Siyeon. “You can't expect me to go walking around like this.”

Siyeon's white shirt can almost pass as a badly tie-dyed red shirt. It smells metallic, like iron, the natural odor of blood. Any civilian who sees her would probably call the police to report a murderer.

Even so, Sua does not welcome the idea of Siyeon undressing next to her, not that it's a bad thing, it was just rather... distracting.

“I’m literally right next to you!” she protests loudly.

“It’s not like I have another choice, alright!” blurts Siyeon, equally as flustered. “Just... look away for a moment.”

Sua distracts herself with her phone. A few seconds later, Siyeon is done. She tosses Sua a jacket. 

“If you're too shy to change, at least cover the bloodstains up.” she says. 

Sua puts it on silently. The jacket smells like Siyeon's perfume, the scent androgynous and refreshing. 

It's quiet. The atmosphere is tense enough that one could cut it with a knife. 

“...So are we going back?” Sua turns to Siyeon.

Siyeon's demeanor shifts obviously at the question. 

“Going back where?” Siyeon feigns ignorance.

“The safehouse.” Sua says. “Jiu.”

Siyeon doesn’t give a reply. 

“Don’t try to dodge the question.” 

Siyeon takes a deep breath and says, looking outside, “You hungry? My throat’s gone all dry.”

Sua crosses her arms, knowing far too well that something is up. 

“Not the time, Siyeon.” 

Out of nowhere, Siyeon opens the car door, and starts walking towards the bright streets. 

“Hey! Where are you going?!” 

Sua waves at Siyeon, but the wolf just ignores her. She mutters a subtle “goddamn it” under her breath before turning off the car engine and going after Siyeon. Curse her and her sense of responsibility. 

Sua watches Siyeon walk into a crowded nightclub, easily slipping past the non-VIP queue and the bouncers, who seem to recognise her. Sua quickly catches up to her, but not before she is stopped by the bouncer, who asks for her ID.

“Let me in, you know who I am.” Sua’s fierce gaze burns holes in the bouncer’s skull, and expectantly, he obediently allows her in without another word. 

Humans have become laughably easy to manipulate for her, ever since becoming a Kindred. It’s one of the very few positives this hell of an unlife has given her. The negatives? Too many to count. Having to look after an immature wolf cub prone to childish outbursts is one of them.

Inside, Sua makes her way through the sea of people. The stench of sweat and scent of perfume mixed with alcohol is more noticeable to her heightened senses compared to before.

However, Sua doesn’t manage to find Siyeon anywhere - near the booths, the dance floor, the lounge - nothing. 

There’s only one place she hasn’t checked - the restrooms. It’s a risky place for her to be - any human that sees her lack of a reflection will definitely react poorly.

But seeing that she has no other choice, she opens the restroom doors and peeks inside. No one is at the sinks. 

She steps in, and there, in the stalls she notices two pairs of feet. The restroom is not brightly lit, so she skulks in the shadows of the corner to wait and see.

Eventually, one of the people in the stall opens the stall doors, leaving behind the other pair of feet. The person that steps out is none other than Lee Siyeon. 

Siyeon tries to push the restroom doors to exit, but is stopped by Sua, who reveals herself from the black cloak of shadows.

“Got you.” says Sua.

“Ah. You caught me off guard.” Siyeon responds, calmer than Sua's expectations. 

“What were you doing? What _are_ you doing? We should be meeting Jiu, now.” 

“I was getting a drink, _duh_. And about Jiu, I just don’t feel like doing that right now. i need a fucking break.” she says stubbornly and tries to walk away, but Sua holds on to her. 

“It isn't a matter of feeling like doing it or not.” says Sua, who continues looking into Siyeon’s eyes despite Siyeon purposefully ignoring her. 

Siyeon just scoffs, and says, “Who are you, my mother?”

Sua glares at Siyeon sternly, not amused. 

“You need to stop being a fucking coward, Siyeon.” she says, exasperated. 

Siyeon’s eyes widened a little, seemingly surprised at Sua’s jabbing words. “I don’t recall giving you permission to talk back.”

Sua grips on Siyeon’s wrist tighter. “I never asked for permission.” 

Looks like the rookie’s learning to stand her own ground instead of behaving like some whimpering whelp. That’s good, but irritating for Siyeon at the same time.

“Tsk. You need a drink. Go get a drink and we’ll talk.” Siyeon shakes Sua’s hand off her and walks out.

Sua follows suit. “And where exactly are you going now?”

“I’ll be waiting for you near the back.” Siyeon points towards a quiet corner far from the overwhelming music. 

Sua doesn’t know if she’s so angry because Siyeon is acting like a spoiled brat, or because she’s hungry. She storms off, before spotting a lone girl standing at the corner who looks like she’s had way too much to drink, or maybe a pill or two too many.

Siyeon observes Sua from a distance, her light blue eyes giving her excellent vision in the dark. 

She takes notice of how Sua manages to talk her way suavely into getting intimate with the girl, before she buries herself in her neck. Classic Toreador behavior. Gahyeon was probably at least partially responsible for this.

But mixed with that charismatic and seductive exterior, is a hint of dark brutality, the way her hands grip onto her victim like claws, the way she dominates the human with sheer authority like a ruthless ruler; it unsettles Siyeon, just a little.

Soon, Sua returns, a little less agitated.

“Looks like someone had a good time.” comments Siyeon, leaning on the wall behind her. 

Sua gives a small smirk. “What? Jealous I’m flirting with another girl?” 

“I-”

“Siyeon. Why are you acting like this?” Sua’s expression shifts to a serious one.

Siyeon folds her arms. “Acting like what?”

Unexpectedly, Sua just gives a small chuckle, a reaction Siyeon had not anticipated. She merely stands next to Siyeon, leaning on the wall, and stares at the crowd.

“I’ve noticed something about you.” Sua says.

Siyeon looks at Sua, puzzled. “What?”

“You act all tough, but that’s just a shell to hide your soft heart.” Sua says, and she can tell what she just said had truth in it when Siyeon tries to mask her embarrassment with anger.

“That’s not true. You watch too many dramas. That’s a fucking stereotype.” says Siyeon, but Sua doesn’t look convinced at all.

“You’re also a terrible liar.” says Sua.

“Am not.” Siyeon refutes.

Sua pauses for a moment, before continuing, “...Were you the band member ‘murdered’ by a ‘crazy fan’ fifteen years ago?” 

She can tell she’s hit the nail on the head from the lack of an immediate response.

How did Sua even know this? So many have tried to dig up her past but failed. Siyeon touches her nose and brushes whatever expression she had on her face off. 

“...No.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” says Sua, who lets out a soft laugh and shakes her head. “You run from whatever problems you have. You bury it under faked ignorance and nonchalance. You forget but you never forgive.”

Siyeon hates the fact how Sua can see through her with just a glance. Maybe she could secretly use **Auspex**. Or maybe she herself was just so transparent to her. 

( **Auspex** : Discipline. vampiric supernatural senses.)

“You don’t know me.” mutters Siyeon, leaning away from Sua. 

“Except that I do, Siyeon. You remind me of myself.” Sua looks at Siyeon with that knowing look Siyeon hates. 

“How so.” Siyeon answers extremely unwillingly.

“I left home when I was just in high school, to Seoul, alone, to train as an idol trainee. But as you know, it wasn’t easy, nothing in my life was, and everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It was like someone was constantly out to get me.” explains Sua, recalling her human memories with a slight feeling of nostalgia.

“Get to the point.” Siyeon says impatiently. The constant passing of humans around them is starting to make Siyeon uncomfortable. She prefers to be outside, out in the open, not trapped in a claustrophobic space surrounded by sheep. 

Sua ignores Siyeon's brashness. “Eventually, I did make it to the top. I became a choreographer. I worked for the biggest entertainment companies. But then we both know what happened.”

Siyeon recalls the scene of an unconscious girl lying unconscious in an alley. “Your Embrace.” 

“Yep, and there went my job, the people I cared about, and worst off, my ability to dance.”

Siyeon raises a brow. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t fucking show up in mirrors anymore, Siyeon. How the fuck am I supposed to dance?” says Sua, frustration and dissatisfaction extremely apparent in her tone of voice. “Technically, I still can , but there’s almost no point. It’s chopping off a painter’s dominant arm. It's like whoever Embraced me had a wicked sense of humour.”

Siyeon doesn’t say a word. The Lasombra recruiting process has their own… ‘trials’ as well, and it’s one of a few things the Gangrel can resonate with the Shadows. 

Sua let out a big sigh. “Everything I worked so hard for, everything I cared about - gone just like that. I try to come across as who has left everything behind, I don’t talk about it, but-”

“You’re actually still totally hung up on it.” Siyeon finishes Sua’s sentence for her. 

Sua slumps her shoulders. “Yeah.”

“So, your point?”

“Both of us are somewhat the same - we both have a terrible past. But how we face it, we’re different. Every time something personal is brought up, you run as a way to hide your insecurities-” 

Siyeon argues loudly, “This is unfair. I’m not you, Sua. Just because I have my own way of facing my problems-” 

“I’m not comparing you to me, Siyeon. That's not what I meant. I meant that maybe if you could tell me what's bothering you, you might feel a little better.” says Sua, tired. “Look, if you don’t want to say it, fine. I’ll leave, and go look for Jiu myself.”

And yet she's still here, willing to spend her time and emotion on Siyeon. Siyeon furrows her brows, conflicted. Sua could have just left, claim all the credit for herself when things eventually go through, and make Siyeon looking like the incompetent overseer. But she didn’t.

Were it someone else, they’d probably have given up, or left her to her own thoughts. It’s the first time someone was willing to give her the time of night, other than Jiu, that is, during the nights when she still had free time, before she became Baroness.

The faint lights of the club casts Sua’s face in a soft glow as she patiently waits for Siyeon’s response. 

Siyeon doesn't know why she came here. At first, it was for the blood, but she doesn't know why she stayed.

“You don’t know the shit I had to experience.” she starts off weakly.

“That’s exactly what I want to know, what happened?” Sua continues to look Siyeon in the eye, even though the other girl is spending all her effort to avoid eye contact. “If you tell me, maybe I can help you.”

Siyeon can’t help but fall for Sua’s words. It’s weird - she’s only trusted very few people, and every one of them had to spend years earning that trust. Yet here she was, putting her trust in a girl she’s known for barely two weeks.

“I promise I’m a good listener.” promises Sua.

Siyeon gives a chuckle. “What are you? Some sort of psychologist?” 

Sua gives a rueful smile, and just says, “Let’s just say working in a big company full of snakes made me a fantastic people reader.” 

“So what? You want to read my sob story?” asks Siyeon sarcastically.

“Yeah.” Sua confirms.

Siyeon hesitates for one last time. Eventually she just decides that she doesn’t give a fuck anymore.

“Fine. Grab your popcorn I guess.” says Siyeon.

“I want caramel.” 

The area they are in is a little noisy, but not too loud so the both of them can hear each other if they stand close enough, and loud enough so that no one else can overhear their conversation.

Siyeon bites her lip.

“Ha. Where do I even begin?” she lets out a small, helpless laugh. “I was indeed that band vocalist that was murdered. Just as the news stated, me and my band members were at a restaurant, when my fellow band members were paying the bill, my sire cornered me in the restroom, and instead of murdering me, he turned me. He told me, as I bled out onto the vinyl tiles of the restroom, that he _loved_ me.”

“...But did you love him?” Sua asks.

“I didn't even know him,” says Siyeon, shaking her head. “He loved the way I carried myself, how I acted - _a lone wolf,_ in his own words. But what he did not know was that it was all a mask, a shield I used to hide my weaknesses. I was not what he thought I was. It quickly became apparent on my first night.” 

As they talk, Siyeon makes note of a group of men eyeing them, maybe due to their somewhat underdressed attire to be in a club? She turns back to Sua and pretends to ignore them.

“The Gangrel have a trial before formally accepting one into the clan,” continues Siyeon, after taking a deep breath in, preparing herself. “On the first night, the sire leaves the childe to their own devices, as proof that they can survive.” 

That honestly just sounds like a recipe for disaster. Sua remembers what Siyeon told her while on the bus. Something bad must have happened. And she’s right.

“The moment I regained full consciousness, I was hungry. Starving. All I had was that irresistible bloodlust in my mouth, the stupid Beast in my head, and a sobbing girl in my heart,” she describes, fingers fidgeting. “I killed five civilians, two cops. The Camarilla had to cover my ass, and apparently because of that my sire got into trouble. That’s when Jiu found me and rescued me.” 

“So you fell to the Beast on your first night.” says Sua.

“Mmhm, and I allowed you to suffer the same. I’ve been beating myself up over it.” Siyeon confesses reluctantly.

“Don’t.” Sua puts an arm over Siyeon’s shoulder reassuringly.

“I still remember, still dream about the way those people screamed in absolute terror.. Or their family member's faces when they attended their funeral, never knowing who was the monster responsible… The look on my sire’s face... ” Siyeon says, her voice shaky, her true emotions bubbling to the surface. “If it weren’t for Jiu, I’d be long gone.”

Sua understands what’s going on now. Siyeon wasn’t running from her problems, she’s been facing them all this time. And having the thought of the person that helped her get through all that betraying her, drove Siyeon off the edge. She just couldn’t take it anymore. Her face under the faint red lights of the club looks broken, fragile. Her eyes are red, and Sua can tell that she’s trying her best not to cry.

Suddenly, Sua feels horrible. She wouldn’t call herself an empath, but seeing Siyeon like this is like sending a thousand blades through her heart. She even feels a little bad for going so hard on her just now.

It isn't an excuse for how grumpy and bitchy Siyeon was around her all the time, but at least now she understood why.

“Oh… Siyeon…” Sua rubs Siyeon’s shoulder in a comforting manner. “I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this for so long. Does Jiu know?”

“No,” Siyeon’s answer surprises Sua. “I’ve been planning to tell her, but with everything that’s been happening recently… You see? That’s why I don’t want to see her! I can't bear to.“

“Because you think she might have betrayed you?”

“It’s not just a might, Sua!” exclaims Siyeon, Siyeon finally raises her head to look Sua properly in the eye, and it’s probably the first time she’s done so. 

“You didn’t even give her the chance to explain herself.” reasons Sua.

That's true. But Siyeon's always been more of a 'half glass empty' kind of girl.

Siyeon just sighs. “She tried to kill us. _Twice_.” 

Just as Siyeon says that, they are approached by three visibly drunken men. It’s the same men eyeing them from before.

“Hey, pretty ladies, want me to buy you a drink?” one of them says tipsily.

Siyeon shoots them a disgusted look. “Fuck off.”

Siyeon’s warning did nothing to discourage the three idiots in front of them though. They’re probably too far gone to understand what Siyeon had said in the first place, anyway.

One of them reaches out and tries to touch Sua, who has been quiet. 

Almost instantaneously, Siyeon grabs the man’s wrist, her sharp manicured nails like talons. 

The man grins, tilting his head, like a dog catching onto the scent of meat, which only served as fuel to Siyeon’s flaring anger. 

Without a second warning, she brutally twists the appendage with inhuman strength, until she can feel the gruesome snap of a joint dislocating.

As expected, the idiot yells out in pain, drawing the attention of a few people around them. 

The other two men, visibly stunned, back away just a few steps, enough so that Siyeon would not be able to reach them even if she wanted to. They just shoot the two girls with a glare that says ‘this isn’t over’, before backing away, dragging the whimpering man with them.

“I guess that’s our cue to leave.” Sua comments, slightly entertained. “You okay to get going now?”

“... Yeah.” Siyeon mutters.

”You sure?“ asked Sua.

”Yup. Talking to you did make me feel a lot better.“ confesses Siyeon. 

“The sooner we meet Jiu, the sooner we’ll find out the truth. We'll get through this.” Sua just pats Siyeon on the back consolingly and starts walking towards the exit.

Siyeon looks at Sua thoughtfully. She’s determined, brave. A polar opposite from the cowering girl she faced in Jiu’s office on their first day together. 

Before Sua can walk further away from her, Siyeon grabs hold of Sua’s hand. 

Sua turns around, shocked. Rarely would Siyeon willingly initiate physical contact with her. In fact, she thinks this was the first time Siyeon touched her hand.

“Thanks. For putting up with me.” says Siyeon, grateful.

Sua, still a little surprised, just smiles. 

“Anytime, Siyeon.” Sua puts her other hand over Siyeon’s. 

Siyeon pulls Sua into a hug. She’s a little taller than Sua, so she has to lower herself a little bit so that Sua’s head can rest on her shoulder.

Taken aback at first, given how Siyeon normally reacted to physical contact, Sua eventually releases her tensed up body and wraps her arms around Siyeon’s narrow waist, returning the hug. 

The noise of the nightclub drains away, and time slows - it’s almost as if the both of them were in their own world. 

Sua lifts her head from Siyeon’s shoulders, and faces Siyeon without letting go of her.

Siyeon’s face is just millimeters away from Sua’s. Siyeon has beautiful features - her eyes are large and doll-like, her nose is sharp, and her lips are a shade of gorgeous red. When she isn’t frowning, she’s practically the prettiest woman Sua’s ever seen.

Sua inhales unconsciously, despite not needing to breathe, when suddenly-

_Riiiiiiiiiiiing!_

Siyeon clutches her pocket. 

Sua moves so Siyeon can answer her phone. 

“Hello? Jiu?” answers Siyeon. Sua puts her hands together, nervous. Where they were standing was too noisy, so she starts fast-walking to the entrance, and Sua follows.

“Siyeon? What’s taking you so long to arrive?” asks Jiu.

The two of them reach the back alley of the nightclub.

“We.. we were…” Siyeon pauses for a moment before continuing. “Attacked. By vampire hunters.”

Jiu lets out a genuinely shocked gasp. “ What?! Where?”

Sua would be lying if she said that didn’t sound like Jiu was actually very taken aback. 

“On the 8th floor of the safehouse. Elevator broke and forced us to stop there, and right when we got out, they attacked us,” Siyeon explains to Jiu. “Oh. And that Gahyeon girl abandoned us - booked it the moment she saw those hunters.”

“I foresaw that coming eventually, about Gahyeon I mean.” states Jiu, and Siyeon meets Sua’s eyes in shock. Sua can hear everything since Siyeon purposefully turned her call volume up so Sua can hear what Jiu has to say - and she too cannot hide the surprise on her face.

“Lee Gahyeon, the infamous Toreador known for kidnapping murderers and rapists that have escaped the law, torturing them to death with...very unorthodox methods.” explains Jiu. “She‘s been hunted by vampire hunters for decades, but she’s always been an expert at avoiding them. Something recently must have leaked her whereabouts.” 

Siyeon thinks for a bit. “Do you know what leaked her location, then?”

“... Actually, I think I do. But I’ll explain it later." says Jiu. "Back to the topic, since you were attacked, are you guys okay now?”

“Yeah. Almost died but we’re fine now.” Siyeon flinches as she accidentally knocks her bad knee against a wall. “Okay, never mind, my leg’s still kinda bad.”

“In that case, I’ll come over to meet you two instead.” says Jiu.

Siyeon wrinkles her nose, hesitant. She looks at Sua. Sua nods.

“...Fine.” Siyeon ultimately agrees. 

* * *

The three of them have promised to meet at a diner not too far from where Sua and Siyeon were.

Sua’s driving, as usual.

“...I just can’t believe it. The Kim Jiu I trusted for so long...” Siyeon says, before glancing at Sua, a forced laugh coming out of her lips. “There’s just no way, right? She wouldn’t do this.”

Sua turns to Siyeon slightly, frowning. “You’re in denial, Siyeon…” 

Siyeon knows that, but yet she hates being told that.

The timings of both incidents were too convenient to be coincidental. Century old zombies rising for no reason? Vampire hunters ambushing them in a safehouse of all places? They were definitely waiting for them there. Both were a trap.

Question is, who were the ones that laid them? And why?

Was it because Jiu wanted to get rid of the foreign, unwelcomed Lasombra, an old and powerful independent, as well as her right hand woman who probably knows too much, all at once? 

But on the other hand, Siyeon knows that Jiu wants Subject Alpha captured for sure, for whatever reason she needs them. They are the reason for the strained relationship between her and the other Barons, as well as the rising tension between the Camarilla and the Anarchs in Seoul.

So why fight between themselves when the enemy is right at their doorstep? Jiu is a smart and rational person, even if she had a personal score to deal with them, she would know that this is not the time.

And right when they needed her most, Gahyeon betrayed them by running off on her own. Siyeon should have trusted her gut. Independents are never to be believed. Their honeyed words and love for self-preservation are to be expected, and yet Siyeon still fell for it.

“You okay?” Sua's voice brings Siyeon back to reality.

“I… just need some time to think.” the blonde haired girl says. She sounds defeated, tired.

“Alright.” Sua puts a hand over Siyeon’s hand, which was resting on the divider. 

The physical contact is reassuring, and Siyeon doesn’t know if she should be sad or angry that she can rely on a girl she’s known for barely two weeks more than her fifteen-year long best friend. She closes her eyes, and decides to take a rest.

Later, they reach the promised meet-up location. Sua's hand is still on hers, and that brings her a sense of safety. 

Inside the diner, Jiu is already waiting for them inside, with a glass of water on the table, still full and untouched.

Sua feels her chest burn with anxiety. She follows Siyeon’s lead. 

Siyeon sits down opposite Jiu. Sua sits next to her. 

“Siyeon.” greets Jiu, her expression serious. “I hope you aren’t hurt too badly from the hunters. I managed to track them down, and apparently they were no pushovers.”

“It’s really nothing.” Siyeon dismisses. 

“Good, so, what did you want to show me?” she asks, sitting upright. 

“Sua, the letter?” Siyeon holds out a hand.

Sua reaches for her back pocket, where she remembers keeping it. But it's empty. There’s nothing inside. She starts patting all her other pockets hurriedly.

Siyeon notices Sua’s frantic expression.

“Sua… Didn’t I ask you to keep it safe?” 

Sua searches hectically for the missing piece of paper. She turns all of her pockets inside out, and rummages through her bag. It’s nowhere to be found. 

“I remember putting it in my pocket! Why can’t I find it anymore?!” Sua says desperately.

“Did you drop it during the fight with the zombies?” says Siyeon.

Jiu raises a brow worriedly. “Zombies?” 

Siyeon helps Sua look in her bag. “You’ll know when you see it-”

“...Looking for this?”

A blonde haired lady wearing a white coat walks in from the back door of the diner. The store employee behind the counter cowers in fear. 

She shakes a tattered piece of paper in her hand.

“That’s it! The letter!” Siyeon exclaims, standing up from her seat agitatedly, but Sua holds her back by the elbow.

“What are you doing here?” Jiu asks.

The lady lets out a small giggle, focusing her gaze on the small, brown haired girl in front of her...

“We meet again, Sua. Or should I say, Bora?” she purrs, her voice low and cat-like.

Sua’s jaw almost drops to the floor as she tries to process the scene in front of her. 

_Handong?!_

Both Jiu and Sua immediately turn to Sua, who is as pale as a sheet of paper.

“What- You stole it from me!” 

“Now, what do you even mean by that? You gave it to me, have you forgotten? You swore allegiance to the Camarilla and promised to be my mole.” Handong smirks.

“ _What?!_ ” glowers Siyeon. 

Sua doesn’t even have any recollection of mentioning any sort of letter to Handong.

“No! She’s lying! I can explain-” says Sua, holding onto Siyeon's arm tightly.

Siyeon does not care for whatever Sua has to say. “What is there to explain?!”

Sua thought she briefly saw Siyeon’s eyes shimmer with tears. 

She immediately shakes her head vehemently in denial. “No! Don't believe her, Siyeon, please! That’s not true!” 

“Then how else would she have that letter?!” she scowls, the beautiful face she once knew twisting into an unrecognizable monster. “Fuck, Sua. You- I- Just- Why.” 

Sua has never seen Siyeon so angry at her before. It stings so bad, she cannot even find the words to fight back.

Jiu gets up from her seat and faces Handong, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Tell me what is in your hand.”

Handong gives Jiu an evil grin. “Oh, I’m sure you know better than me, Kim Minji? The very Anarch responsible for the release of Subject Alpha? Not to mention the head of Pro -”

“Shut up.” Jiu fires a warning shot, and a small part of the wall behind Handong corrodes away with a sizzling sound. Handong seems totally unfazed, a cocky grin still sliced across her face.

Siyeon shifts her attention to Jiu.

“I wonder what would happen if this letter was released publicly?” she jeers, strutting towards the trio, her heels making a distinct sound against the cold concrete floor in the silent, empty diner. 

Jiu clenches her fingers into a fist. “What do you want from me, **Blue Blood**? 

( **Blue Blood** : a common nickname for Kindred of the Ventrue clan.)

Handong shifts her attention to the Gangrel. She dangles the claw shaped pendant she received from the Gangrel she talked to back at the Ivory Tower.

Siyeon takes a step back, alarmed.

“No.” she utters, her deep brown eyes filled with uncharacteristic fear. 

“Oh, yes.” Handong throws the pendant in the air, and catches it, almost mockingly. “In exchange for the letter, I want Lee Siyeon to follow me to the Ivory Tower. Alone.”

Sua looks over to Jiu, who seems extremely conflicted. Siyeon on the other hand, looks like she’s about to lose it.

“How did you find us here?” Sua asks Handong, voice churning with betrayal and fury. 

“I think I have an idea,” Jiu tosses a familiar looking USB drive at Handong, folding her arms. “Take your data-mining rubbish back. You lot only know how to rely on the Nosferatu, but forget that they not only sell information to you, but to others as well.”

Siyeon chews on her lower lip. She recognizes that USB drive. 

_That’s the hacking tool she used to unlock the archives… she was tricked._

“And sorry to disappoint… But I’m not giving up Siyeon.” says Jiu, determinedly, much to Siyeon’s surprise.

 _Wait, so Jiu doesn't care if that information gets leaked?_ Sua doesn't believe someone like Jiu would make such a risky decision.

“Are you sure, Kim Jiu? We’re talking about hundreds of unlives and lives at stake here. Do you really want to risk war over a single, pitiful girl like her?” says Handong, a dirty smirk smeared on her perfectly symmetrical face.

Handong is the total opposite of the kind girl that helped Sua escape the werewolf the other day. Her soft gaze is instead replaced with a stone cold glare. Her warm words are now nothing but cruel and snarky remarks. It really goes to show how one should never judge a book by its cover.

Jiu stands her ground stubbornly. “Yes.”

“No, Jiu, don’t do this…” Siyeon says under her breath, although her body language says otherwise. 

“I’m done with people sacrificing themselves for me all the time, Siyeon.” Jiu says.

Handong’s eyebrow cocks a little. “Make sure you don’t regret your decision later, Jiu.” 

Jiu doesn’t budge from her decision, much to Handong’s disappointment.

“I didn’t expect you to be so irrational, Baroness. Seems like you Anarchs are as incompetent as I thought you were.” says Handong.

“Not all of us are back-stabbing morons like you, Camarilla lapdog.” says Jiu. “Some of us have morals.”

“Hmph. Morals don’t matter when you’re _dead_. How do you expect to control an entire city when you can’t make small, simple decisions like this?” Handong gathers herself and exhales heavily. “You leave me no choice.” 

Handong dangles the bone pendant. Siyeon immediately makes a rush for it in an attempt to snatch it away.

“No- Don’t…!” 

But before she can make it to Handong, the pendant starts glowing a cold glacier blue.

Suddenly, Siyeon stops in her tracks, and holds her head with her hands in agonising pain.

“Argh!” she cries out, a throbbing, burning pain spreading all over her skull.

“What are you doing?!” Jiu yells angrily at Handong. 

“Attack them, Lee Siyeon.” Handong orders, her voice cold and unforgiving.

Siyeon resists with all her will, but ultimately fails. Suddenly, she starts approaching Sua and Jiu, each step harder to take than the last. 

“Siyeon, don’t listen to her.” urges Jiu. She retreats back to their table slowly, rethinking her strategy. 

Siyeon grits her teeth, but is unable to resist the calling of the Beast within her. Her fingernails grow into a frightening pair of claws, her eyes glowing a piercing blue, and she’s threatening to charge at Jiu and Sua at any moment.

The brown haired girl scans her surroundings carefully, making sure to not make any sudden movements. She observes the items in Handong’s hands. 

The pendant is in her extended hand, while the letter is in her other; whatever that pendant is, it’s influencing Siyeon’s behavior.

I need to get both of those out of her hands. Sua thought to herself. She looks at the floor and at her own shadow. 

That’s it…! My shadow!

“I don’t want to hurt you, Siyeon…” Jiu tries to warn Siyeon, but Siyeon just gives them a blank stare.

“Don’t waste my time, wolf. Rip them to shreds.” Handong says to Siyeon without a silver of emotion.

Siyeon runs towards the two girls, raising a claw. Jiu calls forth a wave of blood, which buffers Siyeon’s strike, allowing both her and Sua to escape the attack in time. Her strike lands on the table, effortlessly breaking it into two.

Jiu lets out an audible ‘tsk’, before she creates strangles Siyeon with a whip made with liquid blood, smoking against Siyeon's toughened flesh.

Jiu looks extremely unwilling, but nevertheless, she tries to dominate Siyeon into obeying her, but doesn’t manage to calm her down. Siyeon squeezes her eyes shut, trying hard to resist the mental intrusion. She cries out in suffering, and it physically hurts Sua’s eardrums and heart to see her suffer like that. 

She quickly focuses her blood, drawing power from the vitae sitting in her body, bringing it forward like a wave...

Handong shakes her head. “When will you Anarchs learn? The Camarilla will always come out on top. How many failed rebellions have your kind had? How many will it take for you to finally give it up-”

“Gotcha!” says Sua, as a black chain made out of pure, solid shadow rises from the ground below Handong’s feet and grabs the pendant, while another snatches the letter out of her hand. She retracts the chains with great speed, but the chain containing the letter hits a table and drops the letter on the ground. 

Sua clutches the pendant in her hand tightly, and the blue glow fades away. 

Siyeon immediately collapses on the ground like a toy that ran out of battery.

“Siyeon!” Jiu rushes over to check on Siyeon.

“What in the world-?! Goddamned Lasombra! You won’t get away with that!” Handong, furious, dashes after Sua.

Sua makes a run for the main entrance of the diner, and out into the night street. Handong follows swiftly, leaving behind a disoriented Jiu and a collapsed Siyeon in the building.

The streets outside are crowded, given how there were several bars in the area. Neon lights illuminate the dim tar road; drunkards speak loudly with their fellow friends loudly on the sidewalk.

Sua snakes her way through the sea of people, her small frame making it rather easy for her to slip through the gaps.

This crowd should make it difficult for her to catch up, Sua thinks to herself.

Wrong. Because when Sua turns around, she notices that Handong managed to carve a path for herself using Presence - the mesmerized crowd all making way for the icy princess to walk through with ease, as if she were some sort of celebrity or deity. 

Sua doesn’t spend more time gawking and runs faster than she can think. She doesn’t look back. In fact, she can’t. A second wasted looking backwards is a second closer to the moment she is going to get caught by the two-faced Ventrue.

Seriously, all Sua asks for at this point is to stop getting chased all the time. It’s getting rather tiring.

Out of nowhere, past a street junction, Sua feels someone pull on her upper arm. She almost screams, but as she turns her head she is greeted by a familiar face…

“Gahyeon?!” Sua gasps. “What are you doing here?!”

”No time to explain! C’mon!” she urges.

The pink haired girl leads her into a different street that is much less crowded. She jumps down a flight of stairs, into what seems to be an underground bar.

Sua dives down the stairs, breaking her fall with a barrel roll. 

Inside of the bar is relatively peaceful and quiet, with casual jazz music playing in the background. Velvet flooring and vintage wallpaper decorate the area, with only dim, yellow lamps to act as a source of light.

Gahyeon is nowhere to be found, but the darkness in here is immensely useful. Sua once again weaves them to her advantage, shrouding herself in impenetrable darkness. She then hides underneath an empty booth table, behind the table cloth, keeping a small gap open to watch the bar entrance, and waits it out.

Not long after, she sees Handong walk into the bar, looking somewhat tousled. Sua backtracks further underneath the table, her small size making it easy for her to fit in.

Sua stays as still as she can possibly be, soaking herself in the shadows…

* * *

“We should go after her.” Jiu shakes a stunned Siyeon back to reality. 

Shaking her head and regaining total consciousness, Siyeon grunts and gets up slowly. 

“ _You_ should go after her.” Siyeon gives Jiu a blank stare. Her facial expression is flat, empty, tired. 

“What?” Jiu says, confused.

“I’m tired of being toyed with by the people I trust, Jiu.” says Siyeon, brushing the dirt off her jeans. 

“Siyeon, I’m sorry I kept this from you. I just didn’t know how to break it to you without you losing faith in me.” Jiu grabs on Siyeon’s upper arm desperately, unwilling to let go. 

“Get away from me.” Siyeon frees herself from Jiu’s grasp, and storms out of the diner without another word. 

“Siyeon!” Jiu wants to go after her, but hears a small voice coming from the back of the store.

“...Is everything over now?” the diner worker peeks out from behind the counter meekly. 

Jiu turns to the human, and huffs in frustration.

“...You’ve seen too much.” Jiu wipes the mortal’s memory of the past few minutes with Dominate.

Before exiting the diner building, she notices the letter on the floor. She reads its contents with a heavy heart.

* * *

After about an hour, Sua sees a familiar pair of heels show up near the table.

“You can come out now.” Gahyeon says, reaching her foot slightly underneath the table to signal Sua.

Sua crawls out of her hiding spot warily, but accidentally hits her head on the surface of the table. She eventually makes it out, a hand over her sore head.

The bar has closed, the owner is wiping beer glasses behind the bar counter.

“Don’t worry. I know the owner. She’s a vampire as well. She gave us the green light to stay here for as long as we need.” says Gahyeon.

Sua looks at the owner. She winks at the two of them and gives a thumbs up. Just from that charm alone Sua can already guess she is probably another Toreador.

“...Thank you. You really saved me back there.” Sua says to Gahyeon as she stands up and smoothens out her clothes.

“That’s nice and all, but I think I’m the one that owes you an apology.” Gahyeon says.

Sua remembers what happened back at the safehouse. 

“...So give it, then.” says Sua.

“I thought by locking you guys in that room, it would buy time for me to escape. I’m sorry.” Gahyeon apologises, no excuses or anything like that - she genuinely seems sorry, yet, it seems like she holds no regret for her actions. “I had no choice. I feel bad for you, don't get me wrong, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if it ensured my survival.”

It wasn’t the perfect sugary apology Sua was hoping for, but she supposes in the world filled with lies, it counts as a pretty decent one.

“And why are you here?” asks Sua, putting her hands in the back pocket of her jeans.

“After I left, I was still curious if Jiu really did send those zombies after you guys. So about an hour later, when I was sure Dami would be gone, I went back, saw Jiu heading out, followed her, and ended up in this area.” Gahyeon explains.

“So in other words, you stalked us.” says Sua.

”Hey, if I weren’t here you’d be dead meat, wouldn’t you?” Gahyeon sits down on the booth sofa, crossing her legs and patting the space next to her. “So, what happened?”

That is true. Sua doesn't know how Gahyeon manages to manipulate her words to make them sound sweet each time, even though they were all rotten in the center. Perhaps it is a skill naturally possessed by anyone in a clan like the Toreador.

Sua sighs exasperatedly and plops on the sofa next to Gahyeon. 

“Where do I even start? Jiu is in fact responsible for the Diablerist’s release from the labs, and Siyeon now thinks I work for the Camarilla.”

“And that Camarilla woman chasing you…?”

“Remember how I just popped back in Seoul yesterday? Yeah. She’s the reason. She came out of nowhere, gave me a few blood bags, helped me escape the werewolf, and drove me back to Seoul.” Sua tells Gahyeon, who listens attentively. “But turns out she did all that just so she could steal the letter from me.”

“Ah. Classic Camarilla tactic. Divide and conquer; and of course, bribery.” says Gahyeon, unsurprised.

“After that, when Siyeon and I wanted to show Jiu the letter, I realised the letter was missing. Then she showed up, letter in hand and all.” explains Sua.

Gahyeon lets out a tiny giggle. “And I’m guessing you somehow managed to nab it and thus had to run for your unlife.”

Sua leans back on the sofa, putting her head on the back of the leather cushion, throwing her hands in the air. “...Not the letter, but this.”

She shows Gahyeon the bone pendant she stole from Handong.

“I'm guessing this is no ordinary necklace?”

“Handong used this thing to control Siyeon. I don't know how she did it, but I think blood magic might be the only explanation here.” theorizes Sua.

Gahyeon is oddly unfazed by everything Sua has said. She probably has seen weirder things in her days. She switches the topic. 

“You’re a fast runner, Sua, really. First outrunning a werewolf, now an angry Ventrue? If only you could use **Celerity** as well, you’d be unstoppable. Then you wouldn’t even need my help.” jokes Gahyeon.

( **Celerity** \- Discipline. Vampiric supernatural speed.)

“Not really in the mood to laugh now, Gahyeon.” mumbles Sua disheartenedly.

Gahyeon pouts a little. “Mm. Suit yourself.”

Sua’s phone starts ringing. 

Sua picks up the call. “Hello?” 

“Sua! Are you okay?” Jiu’s voice sounds over the phone speakers. “I read your texts.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Gahyeon’s here with me now.” Sua looks over to Gahyeon, who flashes her a cheeky grin. Sua shows her the white of her eyes with a tiny smile.

“Lee Gahyeon?” Jiu says, slightly shocked.

“Mmhm.” Sua confirms.

“…I see.” Jiu says to Sua. “And Handong?”

“Gone.” 

"In that case, are you ready to head back? Tell me where you are and I’ll go fetch you.”

Gahyeon tells Sua the location of the bar they’re currently at, and Sua relays the information to Jiu.

“Okay. Be there in five. I’ll text you when I’m outside.” 

Sua hangs up. 

“Jiu seems all right with you.” observes Gahyeon.

“Yeah, but Siyeon on the other hand is absolutely pissed the fuck off with me right now.” Sua says, upset. 

“It’s just a misunderstanding, I’m sure you two will figure it out,” snickers Gahyeon, nudging Sua’s shoulder meaningfully. “Besides, I think she has a soft spot for you.”

“She does not!” Sua rolls her eyes.

The bar owner walks over and passes the two each a glass of blood, before grabbing herself one as well. She has short brown hair, and like Gahyeon, she looks very young. She is wearing a crisp white blouse with black slacks.

“What are you two talking about?” she asks, sitting down on a chair nearby. 

“Oh, nothing much, just about how this lady here is hopelessly in love with-”

“-with blood. In love with blood.” Sua shoots an annoyed glare at the pink haired girl. “Cheers.”

The three down their cups of blood.

“Sua, Arin. Arin, Sua.” says Gahyeon, looking at each of the two newly acquainted vampires.

“Nice to meet you.” Arin’s mouth quirks up at the corners prettily.

“...Nice to meet you too.” Sua lowers her head shyly in a small bow.

“So, you’re the Lasombra Gahyeon has been telling me about?” Arin eyes Sua curiously. “I think you’re the only Lasombra around these parts.”

“Are Kindred of my clan particularly rare?” questions Sua.

“Rare outside of Sabbat territories, yes.” says Gahyeon, resting her arm on the armrest. “So rare, most vampires in Seoul have never even seen the Oblivion discipline before. That gives you a massive advantage.”

“I’ve always been curious about your clan. Tell me, is it true that you cannot see yourself in reflections?” asks Arin excitedly.

“I-” 

_Ka-chuck!_

Before Sua can utter another word, Gahyeon takes a photo in Sua’s direction and shows Arin the resulting photo. Sua stares at the two of them, dumbfounded as they bicker over the photo.

“Oh my god, it’s true!” 

“Imagine if I was a Lasombra, my Instagram career would fall apart.”

The Toreador are known as the most beautiful and glamorous of all Kindred. It comes to no surprise to Sua that the two girls in front of her can be so disturbed by the fact of not being able to see their appearance anymore.

To herself? She’s already accepted the fact days ago. Besides, Siyeon seems to be doing a fine job-

Sua blinks her eyes and shakes her thoughts free of the blonde haired lady, which brings nothing but negative emotions to her at the moment. 

Eventually, Sua receives a text from Jiu. She bids the two noisy Kindred goodbye.

As Sua opens the door and walks out, Arin turns to Gahyeon with a smile.

“Like **childe** , like **sire**.” says Arin, her glass of blood half full. “You think Seungyeon will be back for her after everything blows over?”

( **Childe** : A childe is used to refer to a vampire in relation to their Sire, the vampire who Embraced them.)

( **Sire** : The person that turned you into a vampire. E.g Jiu turned me into a vampire. Jiu is my sire.)

Gahyeon laughs and shakes her head, taking a sip from her glass. “It all depends on how she performs, I suppose.”

“You’re not going to pop in to see what happens?” asks Arin.

“Ha. Maybe, when I feel like it.” Gahyeon smiles. “Even we are still not free of our sires. We are merely pawns in a game we are too ignorant to play. Maybe the kid will understand… One day. ”

* * *

Topside, Jiu waits for Sua in her car.

“Sua. There you are.” greets Jiu, as she locks the car door after Sua gets in.

This is the first time Sua’s been alone with Jiu. She fastens her seatbelt quietly. 

“I think I owe you an explanation.” says Jiu.

Sua turns to face Jiu with a serious expression. 

“ _Multiple_ explanations.” 

* * *

**Recap**

- **Kindred** : Vampire.

- **Ghoul** : Human minions that serve their master vampire. Very often treated as mere blood cattle or cannon fodder.

=================================================================

- **Generation** : The higher the generation, the thinner the blood in the vampire's body, thus the weaker the vampire.

- **Diablerie** : Vampire cannibalism. By draining and drinking all of the blood of one of their own kind they thicken their own blood, lowering their generation, making them stronger. Highly addictive.

- **Thin Blood** : 14th and 15th generation Kindred. Despite not all of them exhibiting signs of Thin Blood Syndrome (only half of 14th gen, but all of 15 gen), they are overall labelled as Thin Bloods. Can become a full Kindred by lowering their generation through Diablerie. Jiu was a Thin Blood without Thin Blood Syndrome, while Yoohyeon was a Thin Blood who had Thin Blood Syndrome.

- **Thin Blood Syndrome** : The vampire blood inside some Thin Bloods are so thin, they lack the powers a Full Kindred have, but lack some of the weaknesses a full Kindred has as well. (e.g a Full Kindred cannot walk in sunlight. Thin Bloods with Thin Blood Syndrome can walk in dim sunlight unharmed). 

=================================================================

- **The Beast** : The bloodthirsty inner predator inside every Kindred that fights for control.

_*Clan Gangrel (Siyeon's clan) are more closer to the Beast than any other clan. It is both their weakness and their strength._

=================================================================

The three vampiric sects:

- **Camarilla** (traditionalists, old and very powerful, enforces the Masquerade) HANDONG

- **Anarchs** (young rebels that hate the old and powerful, respects the Masquerade) JIU, SUA, SIYEON

- **Sabbat** (violent vampire supremacists that hate the Masquerade) THE DIABLERIST

Other sects:

- **Vampire Hunters** DAMI

=================================================================

- **The Masquerade** : Campaign to ensure the secret of the existence of vampires is kept from humans.

- **Independents** : Vampires that do not belong to any sect. GAHYEON

- **Prince** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.

- **Baron/Baroness** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Anarchs. JIU

=================================================================

Characters:

- **Jiu** : Anarchs, clan Tremere (Vampires known for Blood Magic, gargoyles, zombies and the like.)

[Baroness. Wants to capture the Diablerist alive. She was once a Thin Blood under the Camarilla, but became a full Kindred through Diablerie, and is under the Anarchs instead of the Camarilla now. Has some sort of plan unknown to the rest...]

- **Sua** : Anarchs, clan Lasombra (Vampires rarely seen in Seoul, known for Shadow Magic, cannot be seen in reflections, photos and videos.)

[Newly turned vampire. Currently under the strict supervision of Siyeon for unknown reasons. One of the very few Lasombra in Seoul. Helping Jiu and Siyeon to capture the Diablerist.]

- **Siyeon** : Anarchs, clan Gangrel (Vampires that that can shapeshift. Lone wolves. Closer to the Beast than any other clan, making them more animalistic and feral than other vampires.)

[Abandoned by her sire after her Embrace, but was saved by Jiu. Jiu's right hand woman. Extremely loyal to the Anarchs and Jiu. Hates the Camarilla. Shuns the Beast inside her. Can shapeshift into a powerful, wolf-like form.]

- **Handong** : Camarilla, clan Ventrue (Vampires that were nobles, elitists, rich and powerful people in life. Ruthless and ambitious, they control a big portion of the Camarilla.)

[Works for the Camarilla. Received orders from directly from the Prince. Saved Sua from the werewolf and brought her back to Seoul. Upon returning with the 'evidence' to the Prince, she is entrusted with a rifle containing amber fluid, as well as a task from a mysterious Kindred in the Camarilla.]

- **Yoohyeon** : ???, ???

[Knew Jiu before they were Embraced together during a Sabbat attack. Apparently attacked Jiu for unknown reasons.]

- **Dami** : Vampire Hunters, human

[A relentless vampire hunter with a deep hatred for vampires. Ambushed Sua, Siyeon and Gahyeon at the safehouse.]

- **Gahyeon** : Independent, clan Toreador (Vampires obsessed with art and beauty. Very charming and sociable.)

[Promised to help the Anarchs to capture the Diablerist. A rather old and experienced vampire. Sua's mentor. A rather eccentric artist.]

- **The Diablerist** : Sabbat, ???

[The Diablerist. True identity unknown. A mysterious serial killer that Diablerizes their victims. According to Handong, she is female, was once a Thin-Blood, was an experiment subject under Tremere project 'Project Alpha', but was released by Jiu and the Anarchs before the project could be completed. But according to Siyeon, the project is Camarilla, and the Camarilla released her.]

Twitter: @dcwolfieawoooo

Feedback: https://curiouscat.me/ZWolf_


	6. Mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK AFTER TWO WHOLE MONTHS WAHOOOOOOOO  
> Warning: this chapter contains graphic depictions of violence.

_“Siyeon, Siyeon. How can you disappoint me like this?” A fierce, unnatural voice rings in your ears._

_You blink your eyes slowly as you wake up._

_“You are an absolute failure. I expected better.” he continued._

_In front of you, was the very man that told you he loved you just last night. And now, he is threatening to kill you, fangs bared and claws extended like weapons._

_You cough out more blood onto your already blood drenched shirt. Your band logo, ‘Dreamcatcher’, originally white, has been smeared in a gruesome shade of crimson._

_“Fuck…” you curse, the pain twisting within your failing body paralysing your entire form._

_Your sire lifts your chin with a single elongated claw, examining you closely with unnatural, alien green orbs._

_“Pathetic. You are a disgrace to the entire Gangrel clan.” He lets go and slashes you on the cheek. You can literally see a piece of your flesh go flying, but at this point, you are already at your pain’s limit. You feel nothing but hopelessness. Any fight left in you has all been eroded long ago, since when you’ve first fallen into the bloody pit of vampirism._

_Slumped against the wall of a sewer pipe, you smell wastage, blood, grime. Just days ago, you were drinking champagne with the highest members of society, enjoying the life of a celebrity._

_What a disgusting ending to what seemed to be a fairy tale of a life._

_Suddenly, you hear water gushing from a distance. It was unnatural, too loud and too strong to be from the natural flow of sewage._

_Before the both of you can react, the man in front of you is swamped with a wave of red liquid - blood. He is washed away into the depths of the sewers, his gnarly, bat-like figure swept away like a branch in the ocean._

_The wave eventually subsides, and behind it is a lone, black-haired girl._

_“C’mon. We need to get you out of here.” she pulls you up. You can barely feel your feet._

_“Who… Are you?” you manage to choke out a few words._

_“My name is Jiu, and I’m here to save you. Now let’s hurry up. It won’t be long before that lunatic finds his way back to us.” the girl tells you with a sense of urgency..._

* * *

“First off, I need you to turn your phone off.” Jiu points to Sua’s phone. “Just in case we have some… _unwelcomed guests_ listening in.”

“Fine.” Sua complies, if it meant getting the answers she needed.

Jiu grips the steering wheel, as she tries to think of the right words to express what she needs to say. It’s a very heavy topic after all.

Sua merely crosses her arms and waits.

“I sent the three of you to search for clues…” after a few seconds, Jiu finally speaks up. “But I was not aware that Diablerist… _Yoohyeon…_ Would leave behind something like a _letter_ for me. Perhaps she thought I was going to go there myself. I mean, I was going to. But plans change.” 

“Yoohyeon?” Sua has never heard of that name before.

“Tell me, Sua. What do you _know_ about Subject Alpha, the whole _diablerie_ , thing.” Jiu’s voice is gentle, scholarly, like an educated professor. 

“Diablerie is the act of exsanguinating a Kindred, drinking all their blood, and lowering their generation. Diablerie is highly addictive, because of the high it brings to the Kindred?” Sua just regurgitates the information she’s received, recalling Siyeon’s explanation, as well as the books in Jiu’s office.

Jiu chuckles a little, impressed at the younger Kindred. 

“Good, very good. Quite knowledgeable for a Kindred barely half a month old.” she compliments Sua with a brief smile. “It can be quite powerful, not only lowering your generation, but you also gain the knowledge of the Kindred eaten. In fact, I myself have committed diablerie. However, there is one aspect of diablerie people rarely bring up.” Jiu pauses suspensefully. 

Sua raises her head. “Why?”

“Because Kindred are inherently greedy creatures. The promise of more power _blinds_ many of us.” she says. 

Even _humans_ are inherently greedy, never mind blood-sucking superhumans, Sua thinks to herself.

“So what is it that they rarely bring up?” she asks.

“When a Kindred commits diablerie, they consume the victim’s vitae, yes, but at the same time, they also swallow their very _soul_.” says Jiu.

“Oh, I wonder what sort of repercussions could that possibly bring.” says Sua, Jiu clearly able to hear the heavy sarcasm in her voice.

Jiu laughs a little, and smiles, her perfectly white canines showing. “ _Many._ You see, when you choose to _accept_ a soul into your body, you _invite_ them into your domain. Let me ask you, Sua. Do you watch horror movies?”

Sua doesn’t understand why Jiu is talking in circles. But she wants answers, and she’s in her car. She has little choice but to play along with Jiu’s little riddle game.

“Yes...?” she answers.

“Have you ever seen a person get possessed by a ghost?” Jiu continued.

“...I suppose so.” Sua didn’t have much time to watch movies as a mortal.

“That’s _exactly_ what happens when someone of lesser will commits diablerie.” says Jiu uneasily. “And that is what happened to Subject Alpha. She is acting in this way, not because she’s crazy. I believe that she’s killing because there’s something _in_ her.” 

Sua’s not going to lie - the very thought of another Kindred taking over her mind, it’s creepy. 

“Why are you telling me all this?” Sua knits her brows, apprehensive. 

Jiu exhales audibly, sinking deep into her seat, before starting the car and driving away from the spot they were at. 

“Let me start from the beginning, I suppose.” Jiu relents.

“Yes, please.” Sua leans further back in her seat.

Sua faces Jiu. She is drop-dead gorgeous. While Siyeon is fierce and intimidating; Gahyeon is pretty and innocent; Jiu is just downright _beautiful_. Like a graceful lily flower. A piece of art.

But behind that face are layers upon layers of secrets that no one could peel apart.

“When I was a mortal, I had a lover. Her name is Yoohyeon.” Jiu explains. “We were Embraced at the same time. We were both Thin Bloods, but she was worse than I. People would look down on her, spit on her, treat her like a rat in a cage.”

As expected, even the world of vampires is not free from judgement and discrimination.

“Because she wasn’t a ‘real Kindred’?” asks Sua.

“Yes. Because of this, we were pursued by said people all the time. Trophy hunters, superstitious elders, Camarilla bigots. And one day, they caught us. I escaped. Yoohyeon? Not so lucky.”

The passing street lamps shine on Jiu’s jet black hair like a shower of pale light. Sua turns her attention outside the window.

“She was captured by the Camarilla. Experimented on. Made into the _thing_ she is today.” Jiu continues, her facial expression unchanged. “They wanted to create the Perfect Kindred. The ultimate weapon. The _alpha predator_ of the entire Kindred race.”

_Thus the name Subject Alpha._

At this point Sua can put two and two together, from what Handong told her. 

“Jiu, I think I need to come clean to you about that Camarilla woman earlier.” confesses Sua, rubbing her fingers nervously. 

Jiu seems abnormally unbothered by her statement. It was like she already saw Sua’s words coming from a mile away. Sua takes that as a cue to continue talking.

“I was separated from Siyeon and Gahyeon at the chantry. That was the time Handong showed up, offering to help me, but I think that’s the exact time she stole that letter from me. I shouldn’t have accepted a stranger’s help so easily. I’m sorry.” confesses Sua, watching Jiu’s face carefully.

“I see.” Jiu hums.

Sua raises her brows. “You’re not angry with me?” 

“Every Kindred has made mistakes before, Sua. Even myself.” says Jiu.

Like all Tremere, Jiu is calm, composed, level-headed. Very much the opposite of the emotional wolf that accompanied her for most of her time as Kindred until now. Listening to her talk is like listening to a comforting late night podcast.

“And Sua, I have one last thing I have to confess to you. I am responsible for Yoohyeon’s release, that you know. But, what I failed to mention to you is that…” she inhales deeply. “ I… am partially responsible for making Yoohyeon into the monster she is today.” 

Sua furrows her brow nervously. “Define ‘partially’.”

“The Kindred I diablerised to become Full Kindred? She was the head of the project for Project Alpha. I gained her knowledge, her resources, her abilities. So about halfway through the project, I became head of _Project Alpha_.” explains Jiu, who is still as unruffled as a swan on a still lake despite what she’s just said.

 _Head of Project Alpha._ Sua’s mouth gapes open in shock. She couldn’t believe her ears. She is about to lose her shit while the Baroness next to her just casually spills the beans she’s kept in the cans for so long.

“Why didn’t you mention this earlier?!” Sua protests. Everything made sense now. 

“This is extremely sensitive information. I cannot just go around flapping my gums about this. The Camarilla have eyes and ears everywhere.” reasons Jiu. 

Jiu wants to capture Subject Alpha, Yoohyeon, her ex-lover, alive, to save her. And Jiu can save her because she was the head of Project Alpha and has the knowledge to do so. It all made sense.

Sua chews on her lower lip, thinking hard. “So what _exactly_ did you do to Yoohyeon? What made her into the crazy diablerist today?”

“...I will keep it simple for you, given you are not of the Tremere clan. Even if I were to go into detail you would not understand.” says Jiu.

 _How nice_.

“A blood ritual was carried out. We tried to infuse the ashes of a dead Gangrel primogen, one of the strongest Gangrel in South Korea, mind you; into Yoohyeon, so that she would be able to become a full Kindred.” explains Jiu, looking just a little unsettled. Looks like even she doesn’t enjoy bringing up such a gruesome memory. 

“Why a Gangrel?” Sua asks, intrigued. A Gangrel, just like Siyeon. 

“Remember, the aim of the Project was supposed to create the alpha predator. The Gangrel are, by far, one of the strongest when it comes to physical combat. Their innate connection to the Beast makes them the ultimate predator.”

“But what do the Tremere have to gain from doing this experiment?” questions Sua. “You guys aren’t just a bunch of mad scientists that experiment for fun, I imagine.”

Jiu barks a laugh at that statement. “It was not for the Tremere. It was for the Camarilla. Once the project was successful, Yoohyeon was to be _blood-bonded_ to the Prince, and become his Sheriff. His weapon to silence his opposition. I did not know of the 'blood-bonding to the Prince" part until it was far too late into the project. Me and the Tremere were only researching how to convert a Thin Blood into a full vampire without the diablerie of a live vampire, not _this._ ”

_Geez… The Camarilla had their sights set far._

“When you are blood-bonded, you become just like a _ghoul._ Except that you are a Kindred.” Jiu continues. “You would be forced to obey the person you’ve been blood-bonded to against your will.”

“And that’s why you betrayed the Camarilla and freed her. Because you didn’t want Yoohyeon to become the Prince’s personal weapon.” Sua finally pieces the final pieces of the puzzle together.

“Exactly. I couldn’t afford to let that snobby, self-righteous asshole have a _killing machine on a leash_.” Jiu’s hold on the steering wheel stiffens, the tone of her voice sharpening.

“So, what are we going to do now?”

Just as Sua says that, Jiu pulls over outside an expensive looking apartment complex. Jiu pulls the handbrake and turns to Sua.

“Honestly speaking? I have zero idea. When I have any new plans, I'll call you. For now, here.” The Baroness passes Sua a keycard, some money and a ring of keys. “Because Siyeon is… having an... _emotional fit_ right now, you can stay at one of my spare apartments for now. There’s a convenience store downstairs if you need anything. A smoke or whatever.”

“I don’t smoke.” Sua accepts the items. “But thanks.”

Sua pulls the door handle and prepares to get out of the car. Suddenly, Jiu asks her one last question.

“Sua… One last question. Do you believe Kindred have the capacity to love?” she questions, her voice more, high-pitched and uncontrolled than usual.

Sua doesn’t know how to answer that question, because she herself did not have an answer.

“I think so.” Sua says.

After the Lasombra takes her leave, Jiu returns her attention to the front of the car, deep in thought.

Jiu’s apartment is well furnished, but looks untouched. It’s a lot nicer than Siyeon’s dingy apartment, but feels a lot emptier despite all the fancy furniture.

Sua realizes that she’s finally starting to experience the loneliness one faces as a Kindred. 

Almost everyone worked for their own motives. Jiu wants to capture her failed experimental project, who knows what she’ll do once she gets a hold of her; Handong is stubbornly loyal to the Camarilla and would manipulate everyone around her to get what she wanted; but Gahyeon was the worst of the bunch. Sua doesn’t even know what that pink-haired psycho is planning behind everyone’s back. 

Humans are social animals. Kindred are not. They are solitary predators. However, the only person that seemed to have some sort of humanity left in them that Sua has met, was Siyeon.

The sun is starting to rise. Sua feels a wave of lethargy start to sweep over her. During the last few moments she can keep consciousness, she hesitates on an unsent text to a certain person on her phone…

* * *

**Siyeon**

Hey, you… I hope you’re okay. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what happened, I didn’t know how to tell you, because you hate the Camarilla so much and- You know what, I have no excuses. I’m acting just like the very aspect of Kindred I hate. Lies and manipulation, I hate it and I’m sorry. It will never happen again. Please… just call me.

* * *

Eventually, the sun rises and Sua falls unconscious on the apartment bed before she can hit the send button.

* * *

After leaving the diner, Siyeon lights a cigarette and leans on a wall in her apartment’s parking lot. It’s dead in the night, and the premise is as empty as a bar in the daylight hours. She bathes in the placid moonlight shining from above, a million thoughts racing in her mind. 

Suddenly, Siyeon smells the presence of another human in the area. She looks to the stairwell. 

“Well, well, well, look who’s here, you little bitch!” a rough, male voice can be heard.

It’s two of the same three men from the bar, plus a few others behind them. The one who got his arm brutally dislocated by Siyeon isn’t here, for reasons all too obvious. Siyeon recognises the tattoo on one of the men’s arms. They were a small gang relatively new in Seoul.

Siyeon, unperturbed, continued smoking her cigarette, ignoring the fools taunting her. In response, they walk up to her, weapons in hand. 

“No one who hurts one of us gets away with it, especially when it comes to a _girl_ like you.” one of them threatens Siyeon, pointing a baseball bat at her face. 

Siyeon slowly shifts her gaze to the men. Her abnormally ice blue eyes, as well as the jagged teeth in her mouth - all the result of her previous frenzy in the diner; are extremely apparent even in the dim lighting, slightly unnerving the man in front of her. 

She removes the cigarette from her mouth, and drives the lit end of the cigarette straight into the fool’s bare forehead, carving a fresh, burning crater into his mortal flesh.

Instantly, the man yells in excruciating pain. “ _ARGHHHHH! What the fuck-_ ” 

“Get her, boys!” the other guy from the nightclub orders loudly. “Make sure to keep her alive, we have _special plans_ for this bitch!” 

No one will miss these cockroaches of society when they die. Siyeon thought. She did not even need to shift into her wolf form, for she could easily squash these pests with her bare limbs. A few well placed punches and kicks, as well as an occasional stab with her talons were more than enough to pacify this group of ignorant humans.

As the last human drops to the floor, blood gushing out of his severed artery on his neck, Siyeon takes the chance to relieve her thirst. She latches onto the poor chap's throat, taking in all the blood while vigor surges throughout her body.

This was when something… someone catches her off guard.

“Found you.”

Siyeon did not even have the time to react, before an hand appeared out of thin air, grabbed her by the throat, and lifts her off the ground.

“Your sire was right, you know, about how you’re an absolute failure.” The rest of the hand condenses into thick, red mist, before materializing into the form of a human.

Siyeon widens her eyes at the sight in front of her.

A silver-haired girl, clutching her by the neck, scowled angrily at her with a disgustingly contorted face. Her fangs were abnormally long, one of her eyes were a scorching amber, the other a deep blood red. She's wearing extremely tattered clothing, her hair an absolute mess. 

“The fuck-” Siyeon claws at the hand holding her neck, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“I know you’ve been trying to find me, Lee Siyeon.” the girl gave Siyeon a derogatory, condescending smirk. Usually, Siyeon would have angrily snarled back, but this time, it was different. She knew this was it.

The diablerist she has been hunting for weeks is now right in front of her.

“Let me go, and we’ll have a fair fight, moron.” Siyeon struggled to speak, the supernatural force on her throat squeezing her airway to its minimum. 

“Is there really a need to? If you can’t even break free of this, there’s no point for you to fight me.” the silver-haired girl merely said, tightening her grip even more. 

“Argh…!” Siyeon winced in pain - even her toughened body is struggling to keep itself intact.

The diablerist was not stupid. She would not show up when Siyeon was with a whole group of vampires.

A true predator eyes it's prey and waits patiently until it's the perfect opportunity to strike.

"Do you know what's your weakness, Siyeon? Your _humanity._ " says the silver haired girl. "Your cowardice and _inability to accept your true nature_ is what will lead you to your downfall."

The diablerist picked just the right timing - when she was alone and vulnerable. She was already emotionally exhausted from the entire night’s chain of events, and now this? She can’t do it.

Worst off, Siyeon was the one that initiated this period of loneliness.

At first, she told Jiu off. Then, at least she still had Sua with her to pull her back to reality while they were at the nightclub. However, after that, she still decided to leave Sua’s side, and now, she’s put herself in the position she’s in now. 

After so many years of being a Kindred, Siyeon thought she knew everything when it came to being a Kindred, how to survive and come up on top.

But in the end, it was still her emotions that got the better of her, every single time.

“I’m not going down without a fight.” Siyeon grunts, gripping the silver-haired girl’s wrist tight. Her body glows a bright blue, and she transforms into a wolf-like beast, twice as large as before. 

The silver haired girl returns to mist and swivels around the area. Siyeon’s claws slash at the mist, but the mist merely splits in half, dodging the attack entirely without much effort. The mist is far too quick - Siyeon’s attacks all miss, no matter how many times she tries.

The mist would be invulnerable to normal attacks, but supernatural attacks like Siyeon's claws? Not a chance. But that is if Siyeon could even land a strike.

Suddenly, the mist materializes behind Siyeon, into a large coyote of equal size to Siyeon. It slashes brutally at Siyeon’s back, drawing blood. 

Siyeon turns around, managing to parry an attack from the coyote. Siyeon extends her wolf snout, biting down on the coyote. The attack did barely anything, though, and the coyote easily flings Siyeon away.

The wolf hits on the parking lot floor, colliding into a car and setting off the alarm. The alarm is so loud, it hurts Siyeon's heightened sense of hearing.

Seeing Siyeon distracted, the coyote lifts a car. and throws it at Siyeon as if it was a pebble. Luckily, Siyeon manages to roll out of the way before she can be squashed by the huge pickup truck. However, just as the car hits the other car, it triggers a huge explosion.

The resulting impact blows Siyeon even further away, and the flames from the resulting explosion eat through her skin like corrosive acid.

" _Fuck!_ " Siyeon quickly pat the resulting flames down in a state of fear and panic, but while she was distracted, the coyote had already appeared behind Siyeon's back once again, chomping down on her neck and sending her claws straight through Siyeon's abdomen.

" _Hack-!"_ Blood flows from Siyeon's mouth onto her neck.

Wringing herself free from the coyote's steel grip, the wolf barely has the energy to fight back. Her four limbs are shattered from the brutal explosion earlier, even standing was difficult.

The coyote then backs up, before making a full-on pounce onto Siyeon. Siyeon, still staggered from the previous attack, falls prone on the ground, vulnerable to the coyote’s next attack. 

Blood and flesh splattered everywhere as razor sharp claws tear into Siyeon, making her howl in suffering. The coyote then lets up, kicking her and sending her flying towards the concrete wall. 

Siyeon can barely feel anything - any nerve endings she once had have all been torn to shreds. Looking at her own body, all she sees is gore and an indistinguishable red mess of organs and flesh.

“This is the end, Lee Siyeon. You won’t ever talk to Minji ever again.” the coyote growled, claws protracted and ready to strike.

“I don’t even know who the fuck is Kim Minji…!” Siyeon coughed, returning to her human form as supernatural power fades from her body.

The coyote looked surprised for just a moment, before returning to her unstable mental state. “Who’s your baroness?!” 

“My baroness is Jiu! I seriously don’t know what the actual fuck you’re talking about!” Siyeon yells at the coyote, pissed off.

The coyote looks taken aback. “She changed her name…?” 

“As I said, I don’t know.” Siyeon is barely able to talk in this state.

“Where is she? Is she in Seoul right now? Is she looking for me?” the other gangrel asked once again.

Siyeon nods, flinching in pain. “Yes. She’s spent...all her resources trying to capture you alive. The Camarilla and Anarchs are about to start a whole damn war cuz of her. Even I’m just following her orders...”

The coyote returns to her human form as well. “I see.”

“So, what? Ready to kill me, yet?” spits Siyeon.

The silver haired girl eyeballed Siyeon for just a moment, before turning around and taking her leave.

“Answer me! You piece of shit!” Siyeon's voice echoes in the empty parking lot.

No response.

Siyeon looks at her wounds. At this rate, she was going to bleed out and die in this place. She can’t let that happen. She reaches for her phone in her pocket. The phone screen is cracked from the sheer impact of Siyeon crashing into the wall earlier.

_Jiu… Please answer… For reals, this time…_

After dropping Sua off, Jiu is on her way driving back to HQ, where she’ll have to discuss their next move with her fellow Tremere Anarchs.

_Incoming call - Siyeon_

Jiu picks up the call, but is greeted with what she dreaded the most.

“Jiu… I’m in my apartment parking lot… And I’m bleeding out.” Siyeon’s voice sounded weakly over the car’s bluetooth speakers.

“What?! Siyeon?! What happened?!” Jiu stops the car immediately on the roadside, sounding extremely concerned.

“I just want to say, I’m sorry if I act like an asshole sometimes. I’m stubborn and emotional… I-” 

“You shut up, Lee Siyeon. I’m coming over, right now.” Jiu immediately hits the accelerator and races towards Siyeon’s apartment.

“...And tell Sua I’m sorry as well, and that I’m grateful for her… I shouldn’t have left her alone.” 

“She’s not angry with you, Siyeon. She’s worried about you, just like I am.” 

“...”

Silence was never a good sign. Jiu bit her lip anxiously. “Siyeon… Stay with me, please.”

The line breaks off.

“Shit, Siyeon, I hate you so fucking much.” Jiu cursed, stepping into the accelerator even further.

* * *

**Recap**

- **Kindred** : Vampire.

- **Ghoul** : Human minions that are blood bonded to their master vampire serve their master vampire. Very often treated as mere blood cattle or cannon fodder.

- **Blood-bond:** The act of a Kindred feeding another being, whether Kindred or mortal, their blood. This makes the victim subject to their feeder's bidding, even if it's against their will. 

=================================================================

- **Generation** : The higher the generation, the thinner the blood in the vampire's body, thus the weaker the vampire.

- **Diablerie** : Vampire cannibalism. By draining and drinking all of the blood of one of their own kind they thicken their own blood, lowering their generation, making them stronger. Highly addictive.

- **Thin Blood** : 14th and 15th generation Kindred. Despite not all of them exhibiting signs of Thin Blood Syndrome (only half of 14th gen, but all of 15 gen), they are overall labelled as Thin Bloods. Can become a full Kindred by lowering their generation through Diablerie. Jiu was a Thin Blood without Thin Blood Syndrome, while Yoohyeon was a Thin Blood who had Thin Blood Syndrome.

- **Thin Blood Syndrome** : The vampire blood inside some Thin Bloods are so thin, they lack the powers a Full Kindred have, but lack some of the weaknesses a full Kindred has as well. (e.g a Full Kindred cannot walk in sunlight. Thin Bloods with Thin Blood Syndrome can walk in dim sunlight unharmed). 

=================================================================

- **The Beast** : The bloodthirsty inner predator inside every Kindred that fights for control.

_*Clan Gangrel (Siyeon's clan) are more closer to the Beast than any other clan. It is both their weakness and their strength._

=================================================================

The three vampiric sects:

- **Camarilla** (traditionalists, old and very powerful, enforces the Masquerade) HANDONG

- **Anarchs** (young rebels that hate the old and powerful, respects the Masquerade) JIU, SUA, SIYEON

- **Sabbat** (violent vampire supremacists that hate the Masquerade) YOOHYEON

Other sects:

- **Vampire Hunters** DAMI

=================================================================

- **The Masquerade** : Campaign to ensure the secret of the existence of vampires is kept from humans.

- **Independents** : Vampires that do not belong to any sect. GAHYEON

- **Prince** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Camarilla.

- **Baron/Baroness** : Leader of a territory controlled by the Anarchs. JIU

=================================================================

Characters:

- **Jiu** : Anarchs, clan Tremere (Vampires known for Blood Magic, gargoyles, zombies and the like.)

[Baroness. Wants to capture Yoohyeon alive. She was once a Thin Blood under the Camarilla, but became a full Kindred through Diablerie, and is under the Anarchs instead of the Camarilla now. While she was with the Camarilla, she was the head of "Project Alpha". She and the Tremere were researching how to convert a Thin Blood into a full vampire without the diablerie of a live vampire. She was the one that made Yoohyeon into the being she is today, and seeks to rectify her mistakes by capturing her alive.]

- **Sua** : Anarchs, clan Lasombra (Vampires rarely seen in Seoul, known for Shadow Magic, cannot be seen in reflections, photos and videos.)

[Newly turned vampire. Currently under the strict supervision of Siyeon for unknown reasons. One of the very few Lasombra in Seoul. Helping Jiu and Siyeon to capture Yoohyeon.]

- **Siyeon** : Anarchs, clan Gangrel (Vampires that that can shapeshift. Lone wolves. Closer to the Beast than any other clan, making them more animalistic and feral than other vampires.)

[Abandoned by her sire after her Embrace, but was saved by Jiu. Jiu's right hand woman. Extremely loyal to the Anarchs and Jiu. Hates the Camarilla because her sire is part of the Camarilla. Shuns the Beast inside her. Attacked by Yoohyeon in her apartment parking lot, she is on the verge of final death. Can shapeshift into a powerful, wolf-like form.]

- **Handong** : Camarilla, clan Ventrue (Vampires that were nobles, elitists, rich and powerful people in life. Ruthless and ambitious, they control a big portion of the Camarilla.)

[Works for the Camarilla. Received orders from directly from the Prince. Saved Sua from the werewolf and brought her back to Seoul. Upon returning with the 'evidence' to the Prince, she is entrusted with a rifle containing amber fluid, as well as a task from a mysterious Kindred in the Camarilla.]

- **Yoohyeon/"The Diablerist"** : Sabbat, clan Gangrel (Vampires that that can shapeshift. Lone wolves. Closer to the Beast than any other clan, making them more animalistic and feral than other vampires.)

[once a Thin-Blood, she was an experiment subject under Camarilla Tremere project called 'Project Alpha', where she was going to be infused with the soul of a powerful Gangrel and proceeded to be blood bonded to the Prince, becoming his personal killing machine on a leash. She was freed by Jiu and the Anarchs before the project could be completed. She kept her incredible Gangrel powers, but was never blood-bonded to anyone. She went on a killing and diablerizing spree for unknown reasons.]

[Knew Jiu before they were Embraced together during a Sabbat attack. Mistakenly attacked Jiu without knowing that Jiu already changed her name from Kim Minji and became Baroness. After trying to kill Siyeon, she realizes Jiu's plan all along, and escapes. Can shapeshift into a powerful, coyote-like form.]

- **Dami** : Vampire Hunters, human

[A relentless vampire hunter with a deep hatred for vampires. Ambushed Sua, Siyeon and Gahyeon at the safehouse.]

- **Gahyeon** : Independent, clan Toreador (Vampires obsessed with art and beauty. Very charming and sociable.)

[Promised to help the Anarchs to capture the Diablerist. A rather old and experienced vampire. Sua's mentor. A rather eccentric artist.]

Twitter: @dcwolfieawoooo

Feedback: https://curiouscat.me/ZWolf_


	7. Character Profiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hold up!
> 
> In this page, you will find complete character profiles, including their photos, exact ages, clans and clan symbols, as well as their Disciplines.
> 
> YOU CAN SKIP READING THIS IF YOU ARE UNINTERESTED, THE RECAPS AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE STORY'S PLOT. 
> 
> The author made this page mostly for her own enjoyment haha
> 
> As you'd expect, this page contains major SPOILERS. Characters profiles are listed on this page based on the order they are introduced in the story. Spoiler warnings will of course be present as well. 
> 
> If you have not read all the chapters, scroll VERY SLOWLY.
> 
> Reminder: I did not really strictly abide by the rules and lore. I already mentioned that this story is not meant to be lore friendly.  
> The White Wolf wiki and the VtMB wiki were used and referenced to write most of the explanations in this work. I do not own any of the content in this work, aside from the plot.

**SPOILER WARNING**

**Spoilers for chapter 2 onward:**

**STOP SCROLLING IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO CHAPTER 2.**

**SPOILER WARNING**

**Spoilers for chapter 2 onward:**

* * *

  
**Name: Kim Sua | Kim Bora**  
 **Age:** 26  
 **Generation:** 10th

Although merely a fledgling, her powers are growing at a tremendous rate, threatening to overwhelm her...  
One of the few Lasombra in Seoul. Her clan members are elusive and rarely encountered, feared by many Kindred in the city for their wickedness and ruthlessness - they will do _anything_ for more power. Will she become the exact thing she fears she might become?

 **Clan:** Lasombra  
 _The mysterious Lasombra are known to shroud themselves in shadow, whilst they puppet and control mortals and Kindred alike with laughable ease, thanks to both Potence and Dominate. Elegant, inhuman and predatory, the Lasombra are often associated with the Sabbat, where they hold the equivalent leadership positions akin to the Ventrue in the Camarilla, and are rarely seen outside of Sabbat territory. Independent, Anarch or Camarilla Lasombra exist, but are exceedingly rare.  
  
_ **Clan Weakness:** _Due to their connection to the shadows, Lasombra exist on a different frequency than other Kindred, and usually do not cast reflections in normal mirrors, cameras or videos.  
_ **  
Clan Symbol:  
**

**Disciplines:  
Dominate ●○○○○ **_Discipline that overwhelms another person's mind with the vampire's will, forcing victims to think or act according to the vampire's decree._ **  
Oblivion ●●●●○** _Discipline that allows the u_ _nearthly control over shadows._ **  
Potence ●●○○○** _Discipline that endows vampires with physical vigor and preternatural strength._

**Skills:** Larceny, Performance, Insight  
 _A decent lockpicker. A successful dancer in life, her skills in dance carried over to her unlife. Years under a strict company gave her an uncanny ability to read others very well._

**Affliation:** Anarchs (nominally)  
  
 _Forced into the Anarchs more than anything else, it is unknown which sect does she truly believe in, although her friends in the Anarchs give her a reason to stay, for now._

* * *

  
**Name: Lee Siyeon**  
 **Age:** 40  
 **Generation:** 12th

Embraced against her will and thrown away like garbage, she is poisoned with the need for vengeance against her sire - she will do anything to topple the Camarilla and see her sire fall.   
Both emotional _and_ stubborn, her incredible combat skills are useless if she cannot compose herself in critical moments, but when will she ever learn?

 **Clan:** Gangrel  
 _Closer to the Beast than any other clan, the Gangrel are considered the most feral and predatory of the Kindred, and because of their reclusive natures, animalistic tendencies and loose organization, are the least social of all Kindred, preferring solitude to society. They also tend to be extremely territorial and possessive. They do have their role and reputation among the kindred as fierce warriors, but to get a Gangrel to agree to work with others, even other Gangrel, can be a difficult task.  
  
_ **Clan Weakness:** _After falling to the Beast, the Gangrel gain an animalistic feature that differs from Gangrel to Gangrel, which last for one more night after the incident, lingering like a hangover following debauchery. In this time, speech is difficult.  
_  
 **Clan Symbol:  
**

**Disciplines:  
Animalism ●○○○○ **_Discipline that not only allows the vampire to communicate with and gain dominance over creatures of nature, but gives them influence over the Beast itself._ **  
Fortitude ●●●●○** _Discipline that grants Kindred unearthly toughness, even to the point of resisting fire and sunlight._ **  
****Protean ●●●●○** _Discipline that gives vampires the ability to change form, from growing feral claws to evaporating into a cloud of mist._

**Skills:** Brawl, Intimidation, Streetwise  
 _After spending years with the unruly Anarchs of Seoul, she has encountered countless street fights and shady deals that she needs to resolve whilst her Baroness handles the more diplomatic tasks._

**Affliation:** Anarchs  
  
 _Harboring a deep hate for the Camarilla and her sire, she is a true Anarch that wants to see the old and powerful in the Camarilla fall._

* * *

  
**Name: Kim Jiu**  
 **Age:** 51  
 **Generation:** 11th

An occult genius and charismatic leader, she is the Baroness of the Hongdae University area. Younger vampires often look to her for advice.  
However, just like any vampire, she keeps her motives well hidden, and her secrets even more so.

 **Clan:** Tremere  
  
 _Despite being the second youngest of all the clans, the Tremere have made incredible inroads within vampiric society and are arguably the most powerful clan in the modern nights. This is due in no small part to their secretive nature and mastery of Blood Sorcery, all of which elicit suspicion, fear, and respect from other Kindred.  
  
_ **Clan Weakness:** _The Tremere are not able to create Blood Bonds with other Kindred through normal means. Even to Blood Bond mortals to create ghouls, the Tremere must feed the mortal more blood than usual, more frequently.  
_  
 **Clan Symbol:  
**

**Disciplines:  
** **Auspex ●●○○○** _Discipline that grants vampires supernatural senses._  
 **Dominate ●●●○○** _Discipline that overwhelms another person's mind with the vampire's will, forcing victims to think or act according to the vampire's decree._  
**Blood Sorcery** **●●●●○** _The magic performed by vampires, fueled by religious or occult practices and the power of vampire blood._

**Skills:** Leadership, Academics, Occult  
 _As a Baroness, she possesses the needed charisma and level-headedness to lead an entire area of Kindred. An established scholar, she is very knowledgeable._

**Affliation:** ~~Camarilla~~ (formerly), Anarchs  
  
 _After a certain incident in the Camarilla, she and a small portion of the Tremere abandoned the Camarilla for the Anarchs._

* * *

**  
Name: Lee Gahyeon** **  
** **Age:** 192 **  
Generation:** 9th

Old and experienced vampires are rare. Gahyeon has seen fledglings that don't even make it past their first month in Kindred society. However, having lived since the 19th century, nothing takes Gahyeon by surprise anymore.  
Originally a vampire that only seeked to perfect her own art, recent events have driven her to personally oversee the activities of a new vampire fledgling, Kim Sua, for unknown reasons.

**Clan** : Toreador  
 _Seductive, attractive, sociable, sensual, emotional. These are all words that can be used to describe the Toreador. Largely responsible for the legends of vampires that entice and seduce their prey, these cunning Kindred hide their inherent bestial natures behind facades of civility and grace. Artists, socialites, or just beautiful beings, these are the kinds of Kindred one might find in this clan.  
_  
 **Clan Weakness:** _Obsessed with beauty, if the Toreador sees something of beauty to them, they become completely enraptured by it - it can be a piece of art, a person, or even just something like a splatter of blood.  
_  
 **Clan Symbol:  
** ****

**Disciplines:  
Auspex ●●●○○ ** _Discipline that grants vampires supernatural senses._ **  
Celerity ●●●●○** _Discipline that grants vampires supernatural quickness and reflexes._ **  
Presence ●●●○○** _Discipline of supernatural allure and emotional manipulation which allows Kindred to attract, sway, and control crowds._

**Skills:** Craft, Awareness, Subterfuge  
 _A skilled artist. Having lived over a century, she is convinced there are two very important skills vital to survival - knowing how to lie, and when to run when your lie is exposed._ **  
**

**Affiliation:** Independent  
 _Uninterested in Kindred politics, she would rather spend her time on her art._

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**Name: Handong**  
 **Physical age:** 24  
 **Actual age:** 189  
 **Generation:** 9th

Born in an aristocrat family, Handong grew up amongst snakes, and since a young age she's already learned that every human was only out there for themselves. Vampires too, as she learned when she was Embraced.  
Almost two hundred years later, still stuck in line for the coveted throne, she suddenly sees a new opportunity to usurp power from her elders, and she will stop at nothing to attain that power.

**Clan:** Ventrue  
 _Only the rich, influential and affluent are ever Embraced into this clan. Famous for their reputation for honor, genteel behavior, and leadership, these proud Kindred see themselves as the enforcers of tradition and the rightful leaders of Kindred society. If anything, the Ventrue have adapted to fill the roles of leadership over the ages. They remain the largest supporters of the Camarilla and the Masquerade, believing both to be the surest means of protecting vampires from the growing human population, and of guarding their own power they have accumulated over the centuries.  
_  
 **Clan Weakness:** _The Ventrue have an extremely refined taste for blood. When a Ventrue drinks blood from any human outside their preference, a profound exertion of will is required or the blood taken surges back up as red vomit.  
_  
 **Clan Symbol:  
** ****

**Disciplines:  
Dominate ●●●○○ ** _Discipline that overwhelms another person's mind with the vampire's will, forcing victims to think or act according to the vampire's decree._ **  
Fortitude ●●○○○** _Discipline that grants Kindred unearthly toughness, even to the point of resisting fire and sunlight._ **  
Presence ●●●●●** _Discipline of supernatural allure and emotional manipulation which allows Kindred to attract, sway, and control crowds._

**Skills:** Firearms **,** Subterfuge, Persuasion  
 _Why would she use a sword and get her hands dirty when she can just use a gun? A master of manipulation and deception, she is a figure both respected and feared in the Camarilla._

**Affiliation:** Camarilla  
  
 _Embraced a Ventrue, she truly believes the Camarilla as the right way forward for Kindred, much like other Ventrue._

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**Name: Lee Dami**  
 **Age:** 23  
 **Race:** Human

Born into a vampire hunter family, while other kids grew up going to school and subsequently university, she grew up wielding a blade.   
Seeking revenge after Lee Gahyeon murdered her someone she knew, she is on the hunt to destroy the sadistic artist.

 **Skills:** Melee **,** Stealth, Athletics  
 _A rising star among the vampire hunters, she is surprisingly strong and capable for her young age. Her swordsmanship is unparalleled. Her katana is cleansed, making it extremely effective against the supernatural. It causes their blood to curdle and their flesh to burn._

**Affiliation:** Vampire Hunters  
 _After a traumatizing encounter with vampires, she has made rooting out and killing every vampire in existence her life-long goal ._

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**SPOILER WARNING**

**Spoilers for chapter 6 onward:**

**STOP SCROLLING IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO CHAPTER 6.**

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**Spoilers for chapter 6 onward:**

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**Name: Kim Yoohyeon  
** **Age:** 61  
 **Generation:** 15th (?)

After being experimented upon, Yoohyeon's soul has been stained - everyday, she relives the memories and hears the whispers of the soul she consumed gnawing away at her.   
Granted with extremely powerful abilities, her abilities control her more than she controls them.  
Blinded by her irrational sense of blood and fear of eradication, she is the most wanted vampire in Seoul as of now - whether it was by the Anarchs, the Camarilla, or even the Sabbat.

 **Clan:** Gangrel  
 _Closer to the Beast than any other clan, the Gangrel are considered the most feral and predatory of the Kindred. Because of their reclusive natures, animalistic tendencies and loose organization, they are the least social of all Kindred, preferring solitude to society. These shapeshifting vampires also tend to be extremely territorial and possessive. They do have their role and reputation among the kindred as fierce warriors, but to get a Gangrel to agree to work with others, even other Gangrel, can be a difficult task._  
  
 **Clan Weakness:** _After falling to the Beast, the Gangrel gain an animalistic feature that differs from Gangrel to Gangrel, which last for one more night after the incident, lingering like a hangover following debauchery._  
  
 **Clan Symbol:  
**

**Disciplines:  
Animalism ●●●○○ ** _Discipline that not only allows the vampire to communicate with and gain dominance over creatures of nature, but gives them influence over the Beast itself._  
 **Fortitude ●●●●○** _Discipline that grants Kindred unearthly toughness, even to the point of resisting fire and sunlight._  
**Protean ●●●●●** _Discipline that gives vampires the ability to change form, from growing feral claws to evaporating into a cloud of mist._

**Skills:** Brawl, Athletics, Stealth  
 _An incredibly strong fighter capable of taking down elders alone without help, as well as slip away unnoticed. All of this takes a lot of skill and experience garnered over many years, which was quickly gained by Yoohyeon by accepting the soul of an older vampire into her body._

**Affliation:** Sabbat  
  
 _When the Anarchs and Camarilla both failed her in her pursue for power, she turned to the Sabbat, who more than welcome Kindred who share their thirst for violence and blood._


End file.
